The most important class, however, for me and for hundreds of other Hungarian musicians, was the chamber-music class. From about the age of fourteen, and until graduation from the Academy, all instrumentalists except the heavy-brass players and percussionists had to participate in this course. Presiding over it for many years was the composer Leó Weiner, who thus exercised an enormous influence on three generations of Hungarian musicians.

Sir Georg Solti

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“Dare to be vulnerable on stage” – interview with Cosima Soulez Larivière, winner of the Bartók Violin Competition 2017

“Dare to be vulnerable on stage” – interview with Cosima Soulez Larivière, winner of the Bartók Violin Competition 2017

2019. February 14.

Ever since winning the first edition of the Bartók World Competition in 2017, Cosima has felt at home in Budapest. Last month she arrived at the Liszt Academy at the invitation of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, an orchestra she is familiar with since playing with them during the final. The violinist has preserved all her youthful openness and enthusiasm, while also having amassed huge experience since our first interview in 2017. This latest portrait of Cosima Soulez Larivière sketches out her experiences and impressions during the past 18 months.

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From the hydraulis to the concert organ

From the hydraulis to the concert organ

2019. January 07.

 

What kind of instrument is an organ (organon, organum)? How does it work, and how does it look like? There is no short answer to these questions. On the one hand, organ has no clearly definable size or shape; during its long history the name designated many kind of instruments from hydraulic organs with a dozen pipes to a concert organ with seven manuals and thousands of pipes which can be regarded as a world record of its kind. On the other hand, the way of sounding or the size of the keys also varied over the centuries. By the time the pipe organ of the Academy of Music, one of the most modern instrument of its age, was installed at the Grand Hall, the organ had changed as much as it could throughout its long journey across the past two thousand years.

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