Chamber music festival for three music academies in Shanghai
The chamber music festival in Shanghai on 4 June, 2017 was the fruit of the trilateral agreement between the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music.
Having signed the bilateral strategic agreement in March, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music came up with the idea of a festival, where the students of the two European partner institutions - the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest - would take to the stage alongside Chinese music students in joint chamber music formations. The Liszt Academy gladly picked up the initiative and delegated the cellist Ramóna Rádli currently participating in the Master’s programme, the violinist Gábor Németh just graduating from the Bachelor’s programme and the pianist Henrik Szőcs. Each one of them joined a piano trio with a Chinese and a Polish music student. The festival represented a great challenge to all participants, as they had only two days available for the rehearsals. At the gala evening, their performance of Piano Trios by Brahms, Ravel and Schoenfield met with the greatest acclaim. The festival also provided the stage for the world premiere of Ye Guo Hui’s (also one of the former students of the Liszt Academy) newly composed work.
As the first performer of the concert, the pianist Henrik Szőcs played the 1st and 2nd movements of Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor.
The event also served as the closing concert of a local piano competition, whose jury – besides Polish and Chinese musicians - included two excellent staff members of the Keyboard Department of the Liszt Academy: Gábor Eckhardt and Dávid Báll, who delivered a masterclass to the piano students of the Shanghai music university prior to the festival.
Alongside his Polish and Chinese colleagues, the violinist Gábor Németh performed the 1st and 4th movements of Brahm’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op.8.
The cellist Ramóna Rádli featured in the concert as one of the performers of the piece Schoenfield Cafe Music.
The highlight of the event was the signing of the trilateral agreement between the three music institutions. The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music was represented by the Head of the Musicology Department, Lóránt Péteri.