A great beginning of this year! I spent two beautiful weeks conducting in the capital of classical music - BUDAPEST. It is the city with the largest number of professional symphony orchestras in the world, and all of them are excellent and busy.
My first concert was at Erkel Theatre with one of the best and oldest orchestras in this part of the world - The Hungarian State Opera Symphonic Orchestra. I am so grateful to the director of Hungarian State Opera, my great colleague, conductor Kocsár Balázs Zenekari Árok for giving me this wonderful opportunity to work with them. The program was Bizet - Shchedrin Carmen Suite, and in the second part, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. (Several highlights from the general rehearsal can be seen and heard in the videos on this page.)
The second concert I conducted in Budapest was played by the excellent MAV Symphony Orchestra. The program featured two idylls, one by Croatian composer Bersa, and another by Wagner. Between the Idylls, we played Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana and Bartok's 3rd Piano Concerto, with Szőcs Kristóf as a soloist. He is a very talented young pianist, a newcomer about whom we will hear a lot in the future. As an encore, we added Bartok's Rumanian Dances. The orchestra responded to my suggestions with refined musicality and gentle, but full sound, appropriate for this idyllic program. ... See more
