|
 It is a great pleasure and also a challenge for us to present our innermost selves for the second time and that we are able to prepare the great musical feast of Hungarians and neighbouring peoples dwelling in the Carpathian Basin.
The world has turned around with us in recent years: war has changed our lives with an elemental force, and within the uncertainty and fear, music has become an even more important cornerstone.
Among such difficulties we have to cling to our roots and traditions even more strongly. We would like to pay homage to our musical traditions and our great predecessors with our festival.
At the opening concert, held in the Great Hall of the Liszt Academy, we remember Dénes Kovács, the famed artist, the legendary professor and provost of the Liszt Academy. At our matinée concert in the Old Academy of Music, musicologist Emőke Solymosi-Tari will guide the audience in the work of Zoltán Kodály.
We would like to present the faces of Franz Liszt on the stage of the Auditorium Maximum Kolozsvár (Transylvania, Romania),, and in the Synagogue of Szabadka (Serbia) the folk music treasures of the Carpathian Basin. In the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy we pray for peace with the work of the Ukrainian composer, Myroslav Skoryk, and the Hungarian Ernő Dohnányi among others.
It is a great pleasure for us that excellent and acclaimed musicians accepted our invitation, among others Kristóf Baráti, János Rolla and Júlia Pusker, violinists, the opera singer, Erika Miklósa, Balázs Fülei and Andrea Várnagy, pianists, the Szymanowski Quartet, the St Ephraim Male Choir, and the St. Stephen Philharmonic Orchestra with their conductor, Kálmán Záborszky.
Discovering and supporting young talents is an important mission of our festival, so the most talented young musicians of the First Carpathian-Basin International Piano Competition are awarded an opportunity for a debut concert at the Old Music Academy. Also, this year again we organize master courses for young pianists led by the excellent performing artist teachers.
Another speciality of the festival is that concerts and master courses will be held in various cities and cultural centres of the Carpathian Basin.
We trust that our festival will bring the hope of a better world, that it creates a tradition, it serves the Hungarian nation and the community of the peoples living together in the Carpathian Basin, and that it brings joy and hope to all of us.
Apolka Bonnyai
pianist
artistic manager of the festival
|
|
 It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is in our world to protect things of value, to nurture traditions, and to patronize the arts.
Although the radiant power of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basic, their musical culture, is famed far and wide, our task is to show how this unique, incomparable, Hungarian culture of classical music was built up, and how it grew.
One splendid opportunity for disseminating this is this cross-border initiative, which, true to its name, aims to cast the spotlight on the richness and diversity of the music of the Hungarian community in the Carpathian Basin, on the Hungarians’ strong commitment to culture, and on their renowned achievements on significant concert platforms through the world.
This international festival also shows cooperation between the peoples of the Carpathian Basin in the field of music, the harmony of their work and interaction, and their constructive power.
It is my solemn belief that the Carpathian Basin is one of the richest in the world, not merely in natural assets, beauty, and ethography but also one of the most important source regions and centres of global musical culture.
It is my wish that this noble initiative give life to the classical musical traditions of the Hungarians and the peoples of the Carpathian Basin present their interwoven destinies, serve their cooperation and better mutual understanding, for the betterment of us all.
Dr. István Bajkai
Patron
|
