223 E 52nd Street, NY 10022
Organized by the Liszt institute New York the concert of soprano Mária Lökösházi accompanied by pianist Geregly Kovács will take place on October 22, 2025 at 6:30PM at the General Consulate of Hungary in New York celebrating the birthday one of the famous classical musicians in the world, Ferenc Liszt.
About the concert
In celebration of the great composer's 214th birthday Soprano Mária Lökösházi will perform a selection of songs by Ferenc Liszt, featuring settings of poems by Ludwig Uhland, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Rückert, and Ferdinand Freiligrath in German, as well as works based on poems by Victor Hugo in French. She will be accompanied on piano by pianist extraordinary Gergely Kovács.
The German songs evoke the full range of Romantic emotion, while the French settings reveal Liszt’s refined melodic sensitivity and delicate harmonic style. Together, they reflect Liszt’s deep artistic openness, his enduring bond with poetry and music, and his lifelong pursuit of beauty in melody.
Songs of Ferenc Liszt
Among the lesser-known compositions of Ferenc Liszt are his secular songs, written primarily during the 1840s. Liszt composed more than eighty songs, mostly in German, with several in French and Hungarian, and a few in English and Russian. His song compositions were greatly influenced by Italian opera and the lieder tradition of Franz Schubert.
Following the artistic custom of his time, Liszt set pre-existing poems to music. He drew inspiration from the works of renowned poets such as Goethe, Heine, Victor Hugo, and Schiller. In his early songs, the emphasis was placed primarily on melodic expression, while his later works reveal a more refined harmonic unity and a deeper integration of text and music.
About the artists
Mária Lökösházi, soprano, is renowned for her interpretations of early and contemporary music, Italian bel canto, and art song repertoire. In 2024, she received the First Prize in the Voice Division at the International Liszt Competition in Los Angeles. She has appeared at numerous prestigious concert venues and music festivals both in Hungary and abroad. Lökösházi is currently pursuing her Doctoral Studies at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, where she also serves as a faculty member at the Academy’s Kodály Institute.
Gergely Kovács, pianist, is a laureate of several national and international competitions. He has performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States, including appearances at such distinguished venues as Carnegie Hall and SOTA Concert Hall. Kovács is (likewise) a Doctoral Student at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and maintains an active teaching career across multiple countries. A central element of his artistic philosophy is creating a connection between music and his audience, a principle he seeks to embody in both his performance and teaching.