LEVENTE GYÖNGYÖSI: Divertimento No. 3
BÉLA BARTÓK: Divertimento, Sz. 113, BB 118
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LEÓ WEINER: Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 15
ZOLTÁN KODÁLY: The Peacock – variations on a Hungarian Folk Song

János Balázs – piano
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: András Keller

Hungarian concert-going audiences will keenly recall Zoltán Kocsis’s honourable habit, where for several decades, the great artist performed a charity concert every year on his birthday, 30 May. The Day of Hungarian Classical Music was in part created to pay tribute to this noble gesture: Kocsis served Hungary’s musical culture throughout his life, popularising Hungarian compositions both old and new. Representing the new at this year’s concert is Levente Gyöngyösi’s Divertimento No. 3, with the past covered by one iconic work each from Bartók, Weiner and Kodály. The conductor for the concert is András Keller, who has always been a devoted interpreter of Hungarian music. János Balázs will be the piano soloist for Weiner’s Concertino.

Tens of thousands of concert goers still cherish the experience of attending the 30 May concerts at which Zoltán Kocsis celebrated his birthday with an evening to help children’s charities. Though this tradition drew to a close with the passing of the great artist, it has been continued in a slightly different form with the Day of Hungarian Classical Music, which simultaneously pays tribute to Kocsis, a self-sacrificing promoter of common values, and pays tribute to the outstanding virtues of Hungarian music culture, both past and present. New music must always be played on Day of Hungarian Classical Music, and this year the young generation is represented with Levente Gyöngyösi’s Divertimento No. 3. Its engaging nature connects this work to Bartók’s 1939 masterpiece in the same genre. Leó Weiner’s Concertino for piano and orchestra is a valuable gem of Hungarian music that rarely finds a place in the spotlight, yet will deservedly be brought to our attention on this occasion with the help of János Balázs. The programme’s finale will come from Kodály’s series of variations The Peacock, a deeply meaningful and iconic opus of 20th century Hungarian music. The conductor for the evening will be András Keller, who has time and again demonstrated his devotion to Hungarian music.