Each awardee of the Kennedy Center is a former student of the music academy – including two of our professors
Corvin Chain and St. Stephen’s order awardee, Kossuth Prize laureate opera singer, Artist of the Nation, Éva Marton, and Kossuth Prize laureate composer, György Kurtág were both honoured.
Based in Washington DC, in the capital of the United States, the Kennedy Center presents the Gold Medal in the Arts award since 2005 to those, who belong to the most significant artists of the world due to their outstanding careers and who inspire the international artistic life.
With this honour, the prestigious Kennedy Centre acknowledges the extraordinary impact Éva Marton had for the musical life. One of the most outstanding dramatic sopranos, Éva Marton had tremendous successes on the stage of this cultural centre, when for example she sang the lead role of Richard Strauss Elektra or Turandot. She also contributed to the Millennial Gala Concert honouring Hungary.
Composer, piano artist, former professor of the Academy György Kurtág accepted the awards in the name of Tünde Mózes-Szitha, executive director of Editio Musica, publisher of Kurtág Works. The same honour was presented to Ádám Fischer and conductor Iván Fischer during the celebration organised by David B. Cornstein, Ambassador of the United States to Hungary honouring the Hungarian Artists awarded with the 2019 Gold Medal in the Arts.
Deborah F. Rutter, chair of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts pointed out that all awardees were former students of the Music Academy.
Éva Marton, when accepting the award thanked everyone who supported her throughout her career, thus her husband, Dr Zoltán Marton and her family, Dr Andrea Vigh, rector of the Liszt Academy and Szilveszter Ókovács, director of the Hungarian State Opera.
The students of the Liszt Academy of Music performed a mini-concert with Dominika Ács on flute on and Sára Goda playing the harp.
Éva Marton, professor emerita of the Liszt Academy of Music and a regular member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts will continue her intensive teaching in the next months: master courses in Szeged, Moscow, Barcelona and Weimar and will be a member of the jury at the Moscow Elena Obratzsova Singing Competition. Preparations for the 2020 IV Éva Marton Singing Competition have already started. Based on the success of the previous three competitions, the event was accepted to the Alliance of International Music Competitions. The international opera course, Marton Studio, named after the legendary artist, started last year at the Music Academy, invites young opera singers and master graduates to the world-class backstage of the art of singing.
Former jury chair for the Bartók World Competition for violin is also among the previous awardees.
The Kennedy Center Golden Medal in the Arts was earlier presented, among others, to conductor Valerij Gergiejev, Oscar winner actors Dame Judi Dench, Olivia de Havilland, Jeremy Irons and Sir Michael Caine, opera singers Plácido Domingo and Renato Bruson, Oscar-winning director and screenplay writer Pedro Almodóvar, violin artist Midori, composer-conductor Pierre Boulez, Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat, producer-composer Quincy Jones and violinist- conductor Salvatore Accardo, head of jury of the 2017 Bartók World Competition.
The International Committee of the United States Kennedy Center will hold its 16th conference in June in Budapest and Vienna this year. Influential patrons of the prestigious institute are members of the council.