You’d be hard-pressed to mention a classical instrumental genre in which Beethoven did not reign supreme. The piano trio is no exception. It is thought of by many as the non plus ultra of chamber music. What makes Beethoven trios so special and how do they challenge performers? We quizzed Dénes Várjon about the series of Beethoven’s complete piano trios.

The Weiner Foundation and the Chamber Music Department of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music are organizing the Weiner Leó National Chamber Music Competition between 11-15 April.

The 2016 top list of the QS World University Rankings, reckoned as one of the foremost global education surveys (released in late March), shows the Budapest Liszt Academy (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music) ranked as the 30th best performance arts university in the world.

On Wednesday, the composer, Zsófia Tallér and the pianist, Dénes Várjon were awarded the Bartók-Pásztory prize at the Liszt Academy. Following the reception of the award, the new facsimile edition of the Cantata Profana was also presented.

Julia Lezhneva was still a young girl when she received Cecilia Bartoli's Vivaldi aria CD as a present at the turn of the Millennium. Today she possesses probably one of the most exciting voices and personalities of the post-Bartoli generation. She will be giving an aria recital at the Liszt Academy.

There is no better example of the symbiosis of teaching and concert performing than the “On the Spot” series introducing the departments of the Liszt Academy. On the occasion of the percussionists’ concert, head of the percussion department Zoltán Rácz, Kossuth Prize laureate and founder of Amadinda, and pianist Balázs Fülei, director of the Chamber Music Workshop, spoke about the case for criticism, thoughtful art teaching and the ideal teacherstudent relationship.

We kindly inform visitors that the buildings of the Liszt Academy, including the ticket office on Liszt Ferenc Square, will be closed on 15 March and on 27-28 March. Furthermore, no tours of the building will be held on these holidays.

The Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy will host a very special event on 3 March: an orchestra of young musicians will perform an extraordinary programme that the Hungarian audience may rarely hear.

The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music will be recognised as one of the European Heritage Label sites in 2016 – was announced by Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport at the press conference of the Network of European Heritage Label Sites.

Uri Caine is unsettlingly hard to classify as a composer: his works demonstrate that post-modernist aesthetics and certain modern trends in jazz share many common points. They renounce a linear depiction of history; they are fixated with allusions and eclecticism and to questioning the traditional terms of originality and authorship.