Exciting and Colorful Hungarian Cultural Programs in Bucharest

The Liszt Institute in Bucharest is increasingly offering exciting Hungarian cultural programs to the audience of the Romanian capital each month. In a series of exhibitions presenting well-known Transylvanian visual artists, attendees had the opportunity to discover the work of Margit Soó Zöld. Festival-goers also experienced the stage designs of Levente Bagossy at the contemporary theater event dráMA in Székelyudvarhely. This year, the Institute organized the Hungarian Jazz Days in Bucharest for the sixth time with great success, and Kossuth Award-winning graphic artist and animation film director István Orosz participated in the Bucharest Graphic Days.

The Liszt Institute in Bucharest has continued its series of exhibitions presenting well-known Transylvanian Hungarian visual artists, within the framework of which the public could get to know more than 20 artists since 2013. This autumn, the exhibition of graphic designer, painter, and illustrator Margit Soó Zöld, born in Cluj-Napoca, was open to visitors in the gallery of the Institute between September 25 and October 18. Throughout her career, Margit Soó Zöld explored unique graphics derived from painting, experimenting with various stylistic features and materials. Alongside her expressive pieces, characterized by large, vibrant shapes, she created fine-line ink drawings infused with surrealist-symbolist lyricism. Her themes encompass the living world—trees, roots, flowers, birds, and water—along with celestial phenomena, clouds, stones, and events reflecting the complexities of human life, often presented in a dramatic, yet harmonious pictorial arrangement.

On September 16, the mock-ups of the theater sets designed by the Jászai Mari award-winning set designer Levente Bagossy were presented at the 15th dráMA contemporary theater meeting in Székelyudvarhely, organized by the Institute. The mock-ups created for 20 different theater performances accurately reflect the final stage designs. Among the productions displayed were Don Giovanni, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Tartuffe, Hamlet, and Curtain Up!, presented as scaled-down replicas. At the opening of the exhibition, which will be available for viewing for a week, László András Kósa, director of the Liszt Institute, discussed the history of this traveling exhibition, which began in 2022 in Bucharest and has since toured Transylvania. The exhibition’s next destination will be Zagreb.

The sixth Bucharest Hungarian Jazz Days were organized with great success at four venues from October 7 to 11. The event showcased world stars, representatives of Hungarian jazz dynasties, the excellence of Hungarian jazz education, and emerging young talents for the audience in the Romanian capital. On the opening day of the event, two outstanding personalities of the international jazz scene, guitarist Ferenc Snétberger and saxophonist Tony Lakatos, soloists of the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, performed at the National University of Music in Bucharest. The next day, the Egri Jr. Trio, featuring János Egri and András Pecek Lakatos, took the stage at the Liszt Institute’s concert hall. On Wednesday, the Jazzbook Club in Bucharest hosted a concert by two brothers, Krisztián Oláh and Kálmán Oláh, who are following in the footsteps of their father, the world-famous jazz pianist, Kálmán Oláh. On Friday, the last concert of the sixth Hungarian Jazz Days was held in the Green Hours Jazz Café, featuring the band Symbiosis 5, which has quickly gained international recognition since its founding in 2020. Continuing a tradition, the cultural center collaborated with the Bucharest National University of Music to organize a master class alongside the event, offering insights into the secrets of improvisational music. This year, the master class was held by Krisztián Oláh, a jazz pianist and composer who teaches at the jazz department of the Ferenc Liszt University of Music, on October 9. The event, which upheld the traditions of previous years, resulted in a series of sold-out performances and was a great success in Bucharest.

On October 19, an exhibition of the cultural posters of István Orosz, a Kossuth Award-winning graphic artist and animation film director who was awarded the title of Artist of the Nation at the Bucharest Graphic Days, opened at the National Theater in Bucharest. After that, on October 23, the exhibition featuring the artist’s works can also be viewed at the Liszt Institute in Bucharest. At the exhibition, visitors can get a glimpse of the artist’s graphic drawings and anamorphoses. The exhibition is curated by Ciprian N. Isac. The exhibition, which can be visited until November 8, 2024, was opened by animation film director Radu Vasile in the presence of the artist and the curator.

The Liszt Institute in Bucharest organized several successful Hungarian cultural programs through collaborations in the Romanian capital. Among these, they participated in the 3rd BukFest (Hungarian Theater Festival in Bucharest), which was held by MASZÍN (Hungarian Theater Association), with the Institute being a partner since its inception. The 2024 BukFest program included seven performances from five Transylvanian theaters, taking place between September 30 and October 6. Additionally, from October 2 to 6, 2024, the Filmtettfest (Transylvanian Hungarian Film Festival) celebrated its 24th edition in Cluj and 16 other locations across Transylvania. This five-day event showcased the best Hungarian feature films from the past year, along with Transylvanian and Hungarian documentaries, award-winning short films, animated films, cult classics, and popular children’s movies.