The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, which performed Tuesday at downtown's Copley Symphony Hall, trumpets the trend of touring ensembles from Eastern Europe and Russia. With their cold-war communism long gone, the orchestras are free from Soviet domination. But with freedom comes a price. The groups must learn to survive in the post-glasnost era, where state […]
It may have been predictable for the Hungarian National Philharmonic, which visited the Irvine Barclay Theatre Friday night, to offer an all-Hungarian program. But it was also the right and compelling thing to do. As often happens when an orchestra takes its native repertoire on tour, the Hungarians brought a nice mixture of zealotry and […]
National tours need to start somewhere, and on Friday Las Vegas was the first stop on what is a long series of U.S. performances for the Hungarian National Philharmonic. Did it make a difference that musical director and conductor Zoltan Kocsis relaxed Thursday on a trip to the Grand Canyon? Were the musicians more enthusiastic […]
After several changes of repertoire since the initial announcement (at one point two different all-Hungarian programs were advertised), Sunday night's concert with conductor and pianist Zoltán Kocsis and the Hungarian National Philharmonic featured an enjoyable and half-Hungarian program of music by Bartók, Liszt, and Dvorák It also gave the Bay Area a rare chance to […]
DAVIS – One of the finest symphony halls in Northern California took wing this season outside Sacramento, serving the University of California, Davis region with distinction and incredible ticket sales. “I tried to got tickets for tonight’s concert four months ago, and it was next to impossible,” complained a patron at the Hungarian National Philharmonic […]
Today, the National Philharmonic Orchestra begins its American tour. The coincidence is almost ghostly: the two leading Hungarian symphony orchestras are practically swapping places in America. The Festival Orchestra performed in the States in the first half of January, while today, the National Philharmonic Orchestra set off on its trip, where after eighteen years, the […]
On Wednesday the National Philharmonic Orchestra (NPO) begins a two month American tour: conducted by Zoltán Kocsis and Zsolt Hamar, they will give thirty nine concerts in the United States. The ensemble is also preparing for lengthy Far East and English concert tours, and by September, will have issued three recordings. Géza Kovacs, the manager […]
It rarely happens that a critic can hear the same programme with the same musicians in two different venues just a few days apart. On this occasion, this exceptional opportunity fell to me. On Friday I could observe the National Philharmonic Orchestra's concert with conductor Zsolt Hamar at the Pesti Vigadó and on the following […]
Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi has an enthusiastic and committed following in Hungary of a kind that even the conductors of the leading domestic symphony orchestras – Iván Fischer, Zoltán Kocsis, Tamás Vásáry, András Ligeti – cannot claim. In each of the Japanese maestro's three Budapest concerts in November, the audience awarded him with ten to fifteen minutes […]
Mozart was performed at the Matthias Church on November 4th courtesy of Zoltán Kocsis. He directed the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Choir. It was audible just how his orchestra can now sing with freedom; I have been truly waiting for this since he took over direction at the ensemble. Emotionally and in expression, […]
