Kurtág 100 | Kikuchi – Hakii – ifj. Kurtág – Madaras – Magyar Rádió Szimfonikus Zenekara

25 February 2026, 07:30 p.m.
Liszt Academy - Grand Hall
1061 Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8.

At the age of 77, György Kurtág completed his concerto for violin, viola and orchestra, a work that is unconventional and surprising in many respects. ...concertante... refuted all the expectations usually associated with late works: that they should be unadorned, concise, ascetic, and essential. After the premiere of the piece, musicologist Zoltán Farkas wrote: “Concise? With a duration of 23–24 minutes, the work is almost a monster in the composer's oeuvre. Ascetic? Kurtág revels in the sound possibilities offered by the two solo instruments and the huge orchestra.” It is now clear that the piece written for Hiromi Kikuchi and Ken Hakii was the overture to two decades full of surprises with which György Kurtág dazzled the world. A few years later, he and his son, György Kurtág Jr. presented a work originally written for string quartet and electronics. Zwiegespräch is a dialogue between two different artists, two generations, two different voices, tradition and new technology.

For the full festival programme and ticket purchases, visit: 100.kurtag.hu