DECEMBER 14, 2025 (Sunday), 6:00 p.m.

FOURTH CARPATHIAN BASIN CLASSICAL MUSIC FESTIVAL – CLOSING CONCERT – FAMILY CHAMBER MUSIC
Joint concert by the Gyöpös-Marouf family from Pozsony (Bratislava) and the Lugosi-Bonnyai family from Budapest

Primate’s Palace – Mirror Hall (Primaciálne námestie 2, 811 01, Bratislava, Slovakia)

PROGRAMME:

J. S. Bach–György Kurtág: „Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit” (Actus tragicus) – cantata, BWV 106 – Sonatina (transcription for piano four hands)
Apolka Bonnyai and Krisztina Gyöpös – piano

Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23
Veronika Király-Lugosi – violin and Apolka Bonnyai – piano

Alexander Moyzes: Poetic Suite
István Gyöpös – violin and Krisztina Gyöpös-Marouf – piano

György Ligeti: Ballad and Dance
István Gyöpös and Veronika Király-Lugosi – violin

Zoltán Kodály: Epigrams (excerpts)
Béla Kovács: After you, Mr. Gershwin
Dániel Ali Lugosi – clarinet and Apolka Bonnyai – piano

The term chamber music was first used in the 16th century to describe works performed by musicians in the atmosphere of a home, in front of a small audience. Although the audience will be larger this time, the intimate atmosphere will be provided, since members of two families will go on stage together: István Gyöpös’ daughter Krisztina Gyöpös-Marouf, Apolka Bonnyai, Veronika Király-Lugosi, and Dániel Ali Lugosi are cousins.
The first piece of the concert is a Bach transcription by György Kurtág, who will turn 100 next year. He and his wife, Márta Kurtág, regularly played the four-hand piano arrangement of the opening movement of this Bach cantata as the closing piece of their concerts, and there are few pieces as uplifting as this. This will be followed by Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A minor. Of the sonatas written for this combination of instruments, the fourth consists of particularly unusual movements: the first, fast movement begins in 6/8 metre, the slow movement is replaced by a playful, „somewhat fast” Andante, and the work concludes with an agitated fast movement. The third piece in the concert is by 20th century Slovak composer Alexander Moyzes. His Poetic Suite for violin and piano was written in 1940 in late Romantic style. This is followed by Ligeti’s work for two violins, Ballade and Dance, the arrangement of two Romanian folk songs. The poetic expressiveness of the first part of the work is well balanced by the virtuoso dance of the second. At the end of the concert, the focus is on the clarinet and piano duo: first, a selection from Kodály’s series of short pieces, Epigrams, will be performed, followed by Béla Kovács’s modern-sounding, virtuosic and extremely entertaining After you Mr. Gershwin, which also incorporates jazz effects.

Participation in the program is free of charge, but prior registration is required. Please complete the form below, or inform us of your intention to attend via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Performers

Apolka BONNYAI started playing the piano at the age of 10 with teacher Ella Miklósné, then continued her studies at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in the class of Katalin Schweitzer and Gábor Eckhardt. She graduated as a pianist in 2001 from the Liszt Academy of Music under the tutelage of Balázs Szokolay, András Kemenes and Dénes Várjon, and received her DLA degree in 2013.

She has won numerous scholarships and international music competitions. As a winner of the Grand Prize Virtuoso and the Golden Classical Music Awards international music competitions, she has performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Carnegie Hall in New York. Winner of the Weingarten Fellowship, she studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire with Professor Malcolm Bilson, and then at Montclair University in the United States under David Witten and Mark Pakman, with the Terplan Research Fellowship.

She performed with great success at the 9th Kyoto International Music Festival in Japan, which was recorded on CD. Other festival invitations include the Yamaha Artist Liszt Festival and the Hungarian Arts and Humanities Festival in New York, as well as the Cziffra Piano Festival. She has participated twice in the V4 Piano Festival in Sárospatak, where she was also artistic director in 2019.

She has performed as a soloist in prestigious venues such as the Palace of Arts, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wiener Konzerthaus, the Mozarteum, the Alti Hall and many other concert halls in Europe and America. She regularly makes recordings in the Márványterem of the Hungarian Radio.

Since 2001, Apolka Bonnyai has been a piano teacher at the Szent István Király Music Secondary School.

She is the founder and artistic director of the Carpathian Basin Classical Music Festival.

Veronika KIRÁLY-LUGOSI was admitted to the Exceptional Talents Department of the Liszt Academy of Music at the age of 10. She graduated as a violinist in 2003 as a student of Professor Dénes Kovács.

In 2000 she was accepted to the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and in 2001 she was awarded the Hungarian Republic Scholarship. In the same year, she was invited by the Liszt Academy of Music to represent Hungary at the 9th Kyoto International Music Festival, where her performance was recorded on CD.

She was able to develop her skill under the direction of such famous artists as Isaac Stern, György Pauk, Dora Schwarzberg, Igor Ozim, and Michael Frischenschlager. In 2010, she was invited by the Lausanne Music Academy to participate in the master class of Pierre Amoyale, a student of Jasha Heifetz.

She has won many international competitions, and as a young soloist, she has been invited to Belgium, Germany, Canada, Japan, London, and Switzerland. She is a regular performer in the series ‘Soloists of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’ in the Marble Hall of the Hungarian Radio. Most recently, she gave a recital in Rome, and as a winner of the Grand Prize Virtuoso and the Golden Classical Music Awards international music competitions, she has performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2021 she was accepted to the National Philharmonic Orchestra.