The Day of Hungarian Classical Music

Zoltán Kocsis 70

Zoltán Kocsis, one of the most important figures in Hungarian music over the last five decades, has created a tradition by giving a concert every year on his birthday for charity, inviting his fellow musicians and friends to play chamber music together. This fine tradition was revived by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, which he led for almost twenty years, and his alma mater, and 30 May was dubbed Hungarian Classical Music Day.

On the 70th anniversary of the birth of the renowned musician, in 2022, the National Philharmonic Orchestra will play Hungarian classical pieces alongside with a contemporary Hungarian composer: the premiere of Tímea Dragony's work inspired by Scandinavian mythology, a composition that won the Müpa Music Competition 2020 in the category of symphonic orchestral works.

Program


  • Dohnányi: Pierrette's Veil, op. 18 - excerpts
  • Tímea Dragony: BIFROST "The Bridge"
  • Bartók: Hungarian Pictures, BB 103
  • Kodály: Te Deum of Buda Castle

Orsolya Rőser (soprano), Kornélia Bakos (alto), Szabolcs Brickner (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass)
National Choir (choir director: Csaba Somos)
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Oliver von Dohnányi

Tímea Dragony

Tímea Dragony

Composer Tímea Dragony is a well-known artist in the music scene. Her large-scale works and chamber music pieces are often performed on concert stages, the music community widely plays her compositions. As an active participant in the concert scene, she regularly gives solo recitals. Dragony has won numerous prizes at national and international composition competitions.

During her years at the Academy of Music, she held various scholarships from Hungary, from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and was awarded the Zoltán Kodály Composer's Scholarship three times /2002,2003,2004/ Her composition career was supported for two years by the Academie Musicale de Villecroze /France/. In 2021 she was awarded a three-year scholarship by the Hungarian Academy of Arts. Four of her symphonic orchestral works have been performed by renowned Hungarian orchestras.