...a country (Hungary) whose population, even today, is barely over ten million has produced so many musicians and so much outstanding music. I am grateful for having been born and trained there.

Sir Georg Solti

Tag: "Interview"

“I’ve said good-bye to heading a department but not to teaching.”

“I’ve said good-bye to heading a department but not to teaching.”

2020. October 26.

A defining figure, a head of department who has just resigned his post, bade farewell in a special birthday concert. Kálmán Dráfi represents the oldest traditions of the Liszt Academy, the Liszt–Cziffra line, and has mentored a string of exceptional young musicians who are among the greatest stars on the Hungarian and international musical scenes. As a pianist, he still plays with the same intensity, elegance and emotionality as ever, something that makes him unique in the world today and has earned him success, competition awards and (now rare) concert recordings since his youth.

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The lighthouse of music

The lighthouse of music

2020. February 17.

Beethoven was born 250 years ago. To mark the approaching anniversary, we asked musicologist Sándor Kovács, head of the Doctoral School of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, to give us a truthful and detailed portrait of Beethoven, most often described in anecdotes as morose and deaf.

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“Beethoven has to be learnt” – or Ludwig and Josephine, in three acts

“Beethoven has to be learnt” – or Ludwig and Josephine, in three acts

2020. January 30.

In May 1799, Baroness Anna Seeberg and her daughters left Budapest for Vienna to take piano lessons from Ludwig van Beethoven, the 29-year-old up-and-coming artist of the day. The innocent trip resulted in lifelong friendships and a fatal love affair. Dr Judith Bajzáth, head of the visitors centre at the Agricultural Research Centre, talks about the details.

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Dialogue with Bartók’s universe

Dialogue with Bartók’s universe

2019. September 25.

With top awards from over 20 international piano competitions to his credit,  Russian-born Alexandre Moutouzkine, who now lives and teaches in New York and is a member of the jury for the competition, will contribute to the decision on which young talent is to be the winner. A lecturer at the Manhattan School of Music, he admits that discovering Bartók’s universe is an experience beyond description to a performing artist.

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