Pannonhalma Art Festival

Music

Opening Concert

Music

Chamber concert

Music

Midnight concert

Music

Closing concert – FAREWELLS

Izabella Simon – piano

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Izabella Simon – piano

Izabella Simon, pianist, graduated at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest as a student of György Kurtág, Ferenc Rados, Jenő Jandó and Sándor Falvai. Since graduation, she has been a regular participant of the most prestigious international festivals such as the Ittingen Festival led by András Schiff and Heinz Holliger, the Salzburger Festspiele, the Beethoven Fest (Bonn), the Marlboro Festival (USA), the Nelson Festival (New Zealand), and Halls as the Carnegie Hall (New York), Wigmore Hall (London), Tonhalle (Zürich), playing alongside musical partners such as Heinz Holliger, Steven Isserlis, Miklós Perényi, Christoph Richter and Radovan Vlatkovic. She attaches particular importance to increasing the popularity of songs, which is underlined by her appearances with Sylvia Sass, Andrea Rost, Ruth Ziesak, and Hanno Müller-Brachmann. As a soloist, she has performed with international orchestras as the Kremerata Baltica, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Camerata Bern, Musikkolegium Winterthur Orchester, in addition to a number of Hungarian orchestras. She frequently plays piano four hands, and two piano recitals in Hungary and abroad with her husband, pianist Dénes Várjon. In the past decade they organized and led several chamber music festivals. The most recent one was “Kamara.hu” at the Franz Liszt Music Academy. She has made records with Dénes Várjon (The Great Fuge-Hungaroton), Sylvia Sass (Liszt, Schubert songs-Cant Art) and Andrea Rost (Bartók, Kodály, Ligeti songs-Warner). In 2015, she launched a highly popular concert series for children focusing on classical music, guiding children in the world of other arts with the help of the genres in the framework of a complex performance. Following her highly successful concert held at 92 Y in New York, she has been invited to the famous Bard College as a guest professor in 2010. In order to promote chamber music, she has come up with the idea of the Night of Chamber Music, starring distinguished artists as Steven Isserlis or Ferenc Rados.

izabellasimon.com/eng

photo: Réka Érdi-Harmos

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Music

Opening Concert

Music

Chamber concert

Music

Midnight concert

Music

Closing concert – FAREWELLS

Dénes Várjon – piano

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Dénes Várjon – piano

His sensational technique, deep musicality, wide range of interest have made Dénes Várjon one of the most exciting and highly regarded participants of international musical life. He is a universal musician: excellent soloist, first-class chamber musician, artistic leader of festivals, highly sought–after piano pedagogue.

Widely considered as one of the greatest chamber musicians, he works regularly with preeminent partners such as Steven Isserlis, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, Leonidas Kavakos, András Schiff , Heinz Holliger, Miklós Perényi, Joshua Bell. As a soloist he is a welcome guest at major concert series, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Vienna’s Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall. He is frequently invited to work with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras (Budapest Festival Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Russian National Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields). Among the conductors he has worked with Sir Georg Solti, Sándor Végh, Iván Fischer, Ádám Fischer, Heinz Holliger, Horst Stein, Leopold Hager, Zoltán Kocsis. He appears regularly at leading international festivals from Marlboro to Salzburg and Edinburgh.

He also performs frequently with his wife Izabella Simon playing four hands and two pianos recitals together. In the past decade they organized and led several chamber music festivals, the most recent one being "kamara.hu” at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. In recent years Dénes Várjon has built a close cooperation with Alfred Brendel: their joint Liszt project was presented, among others, in the UK and Italy.

He has recorded for the Naxos, Capriccio and Hungaroton labels with critical acclaim. Teldec released his CD with Sándor Veress’s “Hommage à Paul Klee” (performed with András Schiff, Heinz Holliger and the Budapest Festival Orchestra). His recording “Hommage à Géza Anda”, (PAN-Classics Switzerland) has received very important international echoes. His solo CD with pieces of Berg, Janáček and Liszt was released in 2012 by ECM. In 2015 he recorded the Schumann piano concerto with the WDR Symphonieorchester and Heinz 1 Holliger, and all five Beethoven piano concertos with Concerto Budapest and András Keller.

Dénes Várjon graduated from the Franz Liszt Music Academy in 1991, where his professors included Sándor Falvai, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. Parallel to his studies he was regular participant at international master classes with András Schiff. Dénes Várjon won first prize at the Piano Competition of Hungarian Radio, at the Leó Weiner Chamber Music Competition in Budapest and at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich. He was awarded with the Liszt, the Sándor Veress and the Bartók-Pásztory Prize. In 2020 he received Hungary’s supreme award in culture, the Kossuth Prize. Mr. Várjon works also for Henle’s Urtext Editions.

denesvarjon.com/bio

photo: Misi Kondella

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Music

Opening Concert

Music

Chamber concert

Music

Evening concert

Music

Midnight concert

Music

Closing concert – FAREWELLS

Zsuzsa Rakovszky

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Zsuzsa Rakovszky

I was born in Sopron in 1950. My father died when I was one year old, my mother raised me alone. She read me poems from a very early age, so I started "“trying to do this kind of thing myself" ” at a very early age.

I graduated from high school in Sopron, then I worked for a year in a textile factory, then I went to university, first in Debrecen, then in Pest. I graduated in Hungarian and English. After that I worked for a few years in the Foreign Language Library in Pest, which was a very useful and pleasant time, because I could regularly read all kinds of English and American periodicals, although they were not easily available elsewhere at that time.
In addition to librarianship, I started translating, and soon I was working as a freelance translator (I was briefly a publishing editor and a reading editor for a magazine, but I always found that I preferred to work independently). In the following thirty-odd years I translated a great deal and a wide variety of texts: poetry, prose, plays, history, philosophy, youth literature, cookery books and advice for cat-keepers...

My first book of poetry was published in 1981, my first book of prose twenty years later. I am about to deliver the material for my twentieth volume (poetry).

In 2003, my son Tibor and I moved back home to Sopron, where he graduated from high school, and then continued his studies in physics in Pest. After some travelling around the world, he returned home a few months ago and works at the BME in Pest. I still live in Sopron, in the same house where I grew up.

Adél Kováts

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Adél Kováts

graduated from the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in 1983 with a degree in operetta-musical. She began her career at the National Theatre, where she performed prose roles until 1991, but also appeared as a guest in operettas and musicals. In 1992 she was a freelance artist for a year; in 1993 she joined the Radnóti Miklós Theatre. Since February 2016 she is the director of this theater. In 2015 she was voted the 3rd most influential Hungarian woman in culture by Forbes, in 2019 she was ranked 6th.

“The Abbey of Pannonhalma is one of the most important places of my childhood, where I visited several times. It was my first monumental church experience. As a sopronic and Christian child, I felt at home in the world of churches, but the basilica fascinated me. I am particularly pleased to be the host of the Arcus Temporium festival in the year of Zsuzsa Rakovszky′s guest of honour. For me, the KERT, whether I am working hard or just being in it, is always relaxing, as is classical music. They shut out conformity, unnecessary noise, and evoke in me the joy of just being, they simply have a cell renewing and healing effect.

I look forward to welcoming you to this healing festival!”

Konrad Dejcsics OSB

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Konrad Dejcsics OSB

Benedictine monk from Pannonhalma, born in 1980 in Szombathely. He graduated from the Czuczor Gergely Benedictine High School in Győr. He completed his theological studies at the Sapientia Monastic Theological College in Budapest. He holds a degree in Classics and Philology and a Master's degree in German and Latin from ELTE. His doctoral dissertation is based on the biographies of St. Jerome. Since 2015, he is the cultural director of the Pannonhalma Abbey, managing director of the Benedictine Publishing House, director of the Arcus Temporum art festival, and editor-in-chief of the Pannonhalmi Szemle.

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Friday 15:00

Spirituality and music

Paintings, organs, music. A tour of the Archabbey's collection of organs and fine art

Saturday 09:00

Spirituality

Individual and community walk on the spiritual path

Saturday 13:30

Spirituality

Church and contemporary culture - Conversation with with the editors of the Pannonhalmi Szemle

Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE)

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Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE)

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) was founded in 1981 by a group of young musicians who became acquainted as part of the European Community Youth Orchestra (now EUYO). There are now about 60 members of the COE, who pursue parallel careers as principals or section leaders of nationally-based orchestras, as eminent chamber musicians, and as tutors of music.

From the start, the COE’s identity was shaped by its partnerships with leading conductors and soloists. It was Claudio Abbado above all who served as an important mentor in the early years. He led the COE in staged works such as Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims and Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni and conducted numerous concerts featuring works by Schubert and Brahms in particular. Nikolaus Harnoncourt also had a major influence on the development of the COE through his performances and recordings of all of the Beethoven symphonies, as well as through opera productions at the Salzburg, Vienna, and Styriarte festivals.

Currently the Orchestra works closely with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir András Schiff and Robin Ticciati who are Honorary Members (following in the footsteps of the late Bernard Haitink and Nikolaus Harnoncourt), and also Sir Antonio Pappano.

The COE has strong links with many of the major festivals and concert halls in Europe. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe has been "Residenzorchester Schloss Esterházy" in Eisenstadt since 2022. In partnership with the Kronberg Academy, the COE also became the first-ever Orchestra-in-residence at the Casals Forum in Kronberg in 2022.

With more than 250 works in its discography, the COE’s CDs have won numerous international prizes, including two Grammys and three Gramophone Record of the Year Awards. Our most recent releases include the recording of the Clara Wieck-Schumann and Robert Schumann’s Piano Concertos with Beatrice Rana and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2023, to international acclaim. In July 2024, Deutsche Grammophon released the CD of our Brahms Symphonies, recorded in 2022 and 2023 at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus with Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

In 2009, the COE Academy was created in order to give a select group of exceptional students the chance to study with the principal players of COE and, importantly, to give the students the opportunity to travel “on tour” with the orchestra.

The COE is a private orchestra which receives invaluable financial support from particularly the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and a further number of Friends including Dasha Shenkman, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, the Rupert Hughes Will Trust, the Underwood Trust, the 35th Anniversary Friends and American Friends.

Performers of the Arcus Temporum Art Festival

Leonard FU Leader

Maia CABEZA

Sophie BESANCON

Christian EISENBERGER

Sarah KAPUSTIN

Matilda KAUL

Sylwia KONOPKA

Stefano MOLLO

Peter OLOFSSON

Joseph RAPPAPORT

Henriette SCHEYTT

Martin WALCH

Violin

Gary POMEROY

Hector CAMARA RUIZ

Wouter RAUBENHEIMER

Steven WRIGHT

Viola

Richard LESTER

Henrik BRENDSTRUP

Kate GOULD

Sally PENDLEBURY

Cello

Enno SENFT

Philip NELSON

Double bass

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Music

Opening Concert

Music

Evening concert

Music

Midnight concert

Music

Closing concert – FAREWELLS

Nicolas Altstaedt – cellist

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Nicolas Altstaedt – cellist

German-French cellist is one of the most sought after and versatile artists today. As a soloist, conductor and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to the contemporary.

As a conductor, he works closely with the Scottish and Munich Chamber Orchestras and the OPRF Paris. He conducted in recent seasons the Budapest Festival Orchestra, SWR, OSI Lugano, Warsaw Philharmonic, Kyoto Symphony, Orchestra of 18th century, les Violins du Roy, Aurora and Zurich chamber orchestras.

In 2012, Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to succeed him as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, and in 2015 by Ádám Fischer to become the new Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonie until 2022, within whom he regularly performed with at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Esterházy Festival and recently on tour in both China and Japan. Nicolas was Artistic Director of the Pfingstfestspiele Ittingen 2019 and 2023.

His most recent recordings for his Lockenhaus Festival garnered the BBC Music Magazine 2020 Chamber Award and Grammophone Award 2020. He received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017 for his recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen and the Edison Klassiek 2017 for his Recital Recording with Fazil Say on Warner Classics.

Source: https://www.nicolas-altstaedt.com/biography

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Music

Opening Concert

Music

Chamber concert

Music

Midnight concert

Music

Closing concert – FAREWELLS

Csilla Csővári - soprano

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Csilla Csővári - soprano

studied at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest with Erika Sziklai.

At the same time she studied in Berlin on an Erasmus scholarship, where she graduated as an opera and song singer under Julie Kaufmann. She attended international master classes with Kiri Te Kanawa and Julia Hamari.

Her first operatic experience was as a solo singer in the Opera Studio of the Cologne Opera House, where she later became a member of the ensemble. Here she sang a major role in the world premiere of Stockhausen's opera Sonntag aus Licht. She then signed a contract with the Nuremberg Opera House, where she made his successful debut in the title role of Donizetti′s opera Daughter of the Regiment. She has appeared as a guest in various opera houses and concert halls in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria. She has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, Stuttgart Opera, Dresden Operetta Theatre and the Hamburg Modern Music Festival.

She was awarded first prize and special prize at the international singing competition Les Symphonies d′Automne in Mâcon, France.

She was awarded the Offenbach Prize 2011 by the Cologne Opera Enthusiasts′ Society and in 2014 she was named “Singer of the Year” by the renowned classical music magazine Opern Welt for her performance in a modern opera production.

Until 2020, she is a soloist at the Gärtnerplatz Theater in Munich, where she sang Gretel in Humperdinck′s opera Hansel and Gretel, Pamina in The Magic Flute and Gretchen in Lortzing′s The Poacher′s Chorus.

Source: https://csillacsovari.com/hu/eletrajz

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Music

Opening Concert

Music

Chamber concert

Music

Midnight concert

Music

Closing concert – FAREWELLS

Eszter Karasszon – cellist

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Eszter Karasszon – cellist

was born into a family of musicians. She achieved her first success in a music competition at the age of 8, which was followed by several outstanding results over the years, such as the first prize at the Popper Dávid International Gordon Competition, the Grand Prize at the Dohnányi Ernő Chamber Music Competition, and the first prize at the János Starker National Cello Competition.

Her master at the Academy of Music was Csaba Onczay, Kossuth Prize winner, and she received his doctorate in 2023. She had the opportunity to polish his playing in numerous courses. She participated in the master classes of János Starker, Steven Isserlis, Gustav Rivinius, Emilio Colón, Reinhard Latzko, among others.

She has performed in America, Asia and Israel, at European festivals such as the Folle Journée in France, the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander in Spain, The International Holland Music Session. In Hungary, she is invited to the "kamara.hu" festival, run by Dénes Várjon and Izabella Simon, every year. she is a returning soloist at the Days of Silence, the Valley of Arts Festival and the Klassz a pARTon Festival, among others.

In addition to solo performances, Eszter Karasszon has also had valuable chamber music successes. She has performed with artists such as Iveta Apkalna and David Guerrier. She has worked as a soloist with Péter Eötvös, János Kovács and Ádám Medveczky, among others. She is a member of Concerto Budapest.

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Music

Evening concert

Zsolt Kiss – organ

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Zsolt Kiss – organ

organist was born in Kapuvár in 1979. He started playing the piano at the age of 8. At the age of 13, he continued his studies at the János Richter Music Secondary School in Győr, specialising in organ and solfege and music theory. His organ teachers were László Hoffmann and István Baróti.

In 1999 he was admitted to the organ faculty of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, graduating in 2003 under Gábor Lehotka. During his studies, he attended courses by Zsolt Gárdonyi, Dezső Karasszon, István Koloss, Jesper Madsen, János Pálúr and Zsigmond Szathmáry.

He is currently the choir and organ teacher at the Benedictine High School of Pannonhalma and the choirmaster of St. Martin’s Basilica in Pannonhalma.

He has given concerts in Germany, Austria, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia and in cities in Hungary.

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Friday 15:00

Spirituality and music

Paintings, organs, music. A tour of the Archabbey's collection of organs and fine art

Sunday 13:00

Music and prayer

Mid-day prayer

Ágnes Langer – violin

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Ágnes Langer – violin

was born in 1992 in Budapest. She started playing the violin at the age of six. At the age of 14 she made her debut as soloist in Mozart′s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major. In 2003 she successfully participated in the Ede Zathureczky Competition, the Balys Dvarionas International Competition and the Bartók Duo Competition. In 2009 she was third prize winner and audience prize winner of the Yankelevich International Competition in Siberia, and in 2016 she was second prize winner of the Spivakov International Competition. One year later, she won third prize at the Bartók World Competition in Hungary and special prizes including invitations to perform in the 2018/19 season.

She has performed in several countries both as soloist and chamber musician, so in Germany, England, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Canada, Spain, Russia, and other countries. She has participated in master classes with Gerhard Schulz, Taras Gabora, Lucia Hall, Nai-Yuan Hu and Roger Chase. She is a regular participant at IMS Prussia Cove, Colmar, France and Casalmaggiore International Festival. She has worked with artists such as José Gallardo, Connie Shih, Pavel Kolesnikov, Roger Chase, Maximilian Hornung, Mihhail Gerts and the musicians of the National Philharmonic of Russia.

Since 2005 she has been a student of Anne Shih at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz. In 2017, she was admitted to the Conservatorium Maastricht, where she studied with Boris Belkin. Thanks to the Peter Eckes Kulturstiftung she plays on a violin made by Nicolo Gagliano in 1782.

Source: https://info.bmc.hu/zeneszek/3462-langer-agnes

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Music

Evening concert

Éva Osztrosits – violin

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Éva Osztrosits – violin

Éva Osztrosits started playing the violin at the age of 7, graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music, and received her doctorate in 2024.

She has achieved outstanding results in numerous competitions, including 1st place in the sonata category and 2nd place in the string quartet category at the Weiner Leó National Chamber Music Competition.

In the academic year 2017/2018, she taught chamber music at the Liszt Academy of Music as a doctoral student. In the same year, she won the master violin Rogeri and a Sartory master violin for four years at the Ede Zathureczky Competition.

In 2019, the Kruppa quartet was accepted to the European Chamber Music Academy, where they worked with renowned artists from all over the world in many European countries.

Currently, as a dedicated representative of the Korossy Quartet and contemporary music, she is a member of the UMZE ensemble. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Austro–Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Concerto Budapest, the Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra of Debrecen and the Savaria Symphony Orchestra.

In 2020 she was awarded the Junior Prima Prize and a 3-year scholarship from the Hungarian Academy of Arts.

In the year 2023/2024, she is a scholarship holder of the New National Excellence Programme and this year she also obtained his violin teacher qualification at the Liszt Academy.

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Music

Chamber concert

Saturday 16:30

Literature

WHITE-BLACK - Readings from the works of Zsuzsa Rakovszky

János Palojtay – piano

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János Palojtay – piano

Pianist János Palojtay's playing is unique thanks to its balance of musical depth, instinctiveness, and analytical thinking. His improvisational skills—whether in Baroque, contemporary, or jazz styles—greatly influence his classical performances. As a pianist, he pays particular attention to exploring the deeper connections between musical texture and compositional language. He feels a special affinity with the worlds of Bartók, Schubert, Scriabin, Ravel, Liszt, Chopin and Bach.

His international career began in 2012 when he won third prize at the Paloma O'Shea Piano Competition in Santander. Since then, he has performed at venues such as the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Salle Cortot in Paris and Carnegie Hall in New York. In the United States, he made his debut as a soloist in the Gilmore Foundation's Rising Stars series. Outside Europe and America, he has performed in several countries in Asia, including India, Taiwan, and South Korea.

As a chamber musician, he has worked with artists such as Miklós Perényi, Barnabás Kelemen, Lev Szivkov, Yura Lee and the Quarteto Casals. It is important to him that he and his partners serve music together, transcending their personalities. Formative experiences include the Prussia Cove and Marlboro music festivals, where he was invited to participate by Mitsuko Uchida. He began his studies at the Academy of Music, then continued at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, where his teachers included András Kemenes, Imre Rohmann and Kirill Gerstein.

He is greatly inspired by the thinking of Ferenc Rados and András Schiff, who has invited him to perform at several concerts, including at Wigmore Hall and as part of the Building Bridges series.

Palojtay has also appeared as a soloist with Hungarian symphony orchestras and has performed at venues such as Müpa and the Academy of Music. He is a member of the Classicus Ensemble and the Ludium Ensemble, with the latter earning him the recognition of György Kurtág. He is interested in new approaches to classical music, aiming to bring it to the audience in a more personal and direct way. In line with this, he regularly performs on the Budapest underground scene with improvisational and classical programs.

https://janospalojtay.com/bio/

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