Bartók, Polish culture, 1956 in focus at Budapest contemporary arts festival

Budapest, September 8 (MTI) – Béla Bartók and Polish culture will be central elements of the Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival held between Oct. 7 and 23, the head of the organising committee said on Thursday.

The festival, the largest of its kind in central and eastern Europe, will also feature events commemorating the 60th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet revolution, Csaba Káel told a press conference.

The festival will open with a performance of Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle and ballet Miraculous Mandarin conducted by Zoltán Kocsis to commemorate the composer’s 135th birth anniversary.

In the framework of events celebrating Hungarian-Polish solidarity throughout the year, the festival’s guest of honour will be Polish conductor and composer Krzysztof Penderecki. His compositions will be performed in the Palace of Arts, the Liszt Music Academy and Budapest Music Centre BMC.

Commemorating 1956, the festival will present an act directed by dancer Krisztián Gergye.

Other international stars attending the festival include French composer and musician Yann Tiersen, Japanese jazz composer and pianist Hiromi, as well as American jazz fusion quartet Yellowjackets, the Polish Cloud Theatre and Italy’s Teatro Potlach.

The festival will feature more than 100 classical, jazz and world music concerts, as well as opera, dance and theatre performances, exhibitions and fashion shows.

More details about the festival’s programme are available at www.cafebudapestfest.hu

Photo: © Posztós János

Source: MTI