• Visiting Eszterháza
• KLASSZ-MR Festival
• The 15th Budapest String Orchestra Haydn Festival
• The Complete Symphonies of Haydn Composed in Eszterháza
• The 12th Haydn in Eszterháza Festival
• The 4th Haydn String Quartet Festival and Course

 

 

Visiting Eszterháza

 

In addition to the familiar Palace Concert festivals, the Hungarofest Community Interest Company’s KLASSZ Music Office will also present a new classical concert series at Eszterháza during the Haydn Year 2009. To commemorate the illustrious anniversary, we have invited our most important international partners to Hungary. Thus, in addition to the noted European Haydn festivals, the classical music festivals of the Visegrád countries will also visit the Eszterházy Palace in Fertőd to introduce their orchestras and present cultural programmes characteristic of their regions. Between July 24 and August 1, audiences will have the opportunity to become acquainted with the only festival in Belgium that regularly performs Haydn’s works, the Haydn-Biennale Vlaanderen, which is based in the picturesque Flemish city of Mechelen. The Baroque-style Brühl Palace near Cologne has been hosting numerous concert series for decades, though concert organizers decided only a couple of years ago to place a greater emphasis on Haydn’s works. The resident Capella Augustina and its artistic director, Andreas Spering, published the rarely performed Haydn oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia in 2008. The organizers of the Haydn Year 2009 in Hungary strove to ensure that Haydn enthusiasts visiting Burgenland or western Hungary would be able to enjoy the world-famous composer’s works in an authentic environment. It was for this reason that we heightened our cooperation with the Eisenstadt Haydn Festival, which will be represented at the palace in Fertőd by an Austrian chamber orchestra. Hungary will hold the Visegrád Group’s rotating presidency from the summer of 2009, and naturally a number of noted Hungarian festivals are members of the Visegrad Music Forum. On "Visegrád Day" to be held on August 1, audiences will have the opportunity to hear for themselves at several concerts how harmoniously Polish, Slovak, Czech and Hungarian musicians can play chamber music together.

 

 

KLASSZ–MR FESTIVAL

 

 

 

The 15th Budapest String Orchestra Haydn Festival 

 

The Budapest String Orchestra, whose foundation of the Haydn Festival served to revive musical life in Fertőd, has made grand plans in preparation for the Haydn bicentenary. The year 2009 represents a double jubilee in that it also marks the festival’s 15th anniversary. This year’s festival programme has been based on the same principle as it has been since the festival’s beginning — that at least one of Haydn’s masterpieces will be performed at each concert, embedded in the musical era that preceded and succeeded that of the composer, thus bearing testimony to his musical genius. This principle will receive special emphasis in the current double-jubilee year.
 

The Haydn Festival has featured some of the most prominent personalities on the international music scene during its 15-year history, continuing this tradition in 2009 with scheduled performances from such world-renowned stars as Ruth Ziesak, Reinhold Friedrich, Miklós Perényi, the King’s Singers, the Párkányi Quartet and the young Spanish pianist José Louis Fernando Perez, who recently received the Albeniz Award, one of the most distinguished artistic prizes in Spain. 
 

 

 

 

The Complete Symphonies of Haydn Composed in Eszterháza 

Performed by the Orfeo Orchestra under the Direction of György Vashegyi 

(2002-2009)

 

The majority of the symphonies that Haydn composed prior to his first trip to London in 1791 can be associated with Hungary and the House of Eszterházy. Almost all of these approximately ninety symphonies, including the six so-called „Paris” symphonies, were composed and premiered at the Eszterházy Palace, the summer residence of the princely Eszterházy family located in Eszterháza (today known as Fertőd). The Budapest-based Orfeo Orchestra, led by conductor György Vashegyi, decided in 2002 to perform all of Haydn’s pre-London symphonies at the Eszterházy Palace by the bicentenary of Haydn’s death in 2009. An interesting feature of the Orfeo Orchestra’s enterprise is that precisely the same number of musicians who played in Haydn’s orchestra — one of the most celebrated in Europe at the time — will use historical instruments to perform the great composer’s masterpieces. Since launching the concert series in the summer of 2002, the orchestra has presented an unparalleled total of nearly 90 Haydn symphonies, most of which it performed at their „birthplace” for the first time since the composer’s era. The Orfeo Orchestra and György Vashegyi will achieve their monumental objective to perform all of Haydn’s pre-London symphonies in August 2009. A warm welcome awaits all our guests at Eszterháza!

More at: www.orfeo.hu
 

 

 

The 12th Haydn in Eszterháza Festival

 

By founding the Haydn in Eszterháza Festival in 1998, the Hungarian Haydn Society endeavoured to revive the musical paradise that flourished in Fertőd during Haydn’s time with the help of period instruments and historically-informed performances. Our focus is primarily on the works that Haydn composed in Eszterháza, particularly his symphonies, string quartets and keyboard sonatas, though we have introduced Haydn’s work as a bold musical pioneer as well. Internationally acclaimed Hungarian and foreign musical experts have assembled the festival’s programme. The prestigious Haydn in Eszterháza festival enjoys widespread international recognition: it is member of the European Festivals Association and its concerts are broadcast by dozens of radio stations worldwide. Distinguished musicians and orchestras from both Hungary and abroad have been invited to appear at the festival. The twelve-year history of the Haydn in Eszterháza Festival will culminate in 2009 performances from the Tomasini String Quartet, the Orfeo Orchestra, the Aura Musicale, the Trio Antiqua and eminent international ensembles and musicians such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington, Malcom Bilson, the Mosaïques String Quartet and the London-based Florilegium early music ensemble.
 

 

 

The 4th Haydn String Quartet Festival and Course

 

Posterity justly regards Joseph Haydn as the „father of the string quartet”, since it was he who transformed the Rococo chamber string quartet into a distinct genre during his years in Eszterháza. It was under Haydn that the string quartet reached full maturity in form and style parallel to the advances he made in the development of symphonies. By laying the foundations, Haydn established a general direction for later musical geniuses and masters. It is for these reasons that the Eszterházy Palace – as the genius loci of quartet literature – is regarded as one of the most important locations in the world for string quartets. The Haydn String Quartet Festival will be held in Eszterháza for the fourth time in 2009, featuring renowned orchestras playing modern and period instruments, ensembles from Hungary and other countries in Europe and both recently formed and long-flourishing quartets. Furthermore, not only concert-goers will gain unique artistic experiences during this Haydn anniversary year, but young musicians will also have the opportunity to acquire an insight into the secrets of this mysterious genre through participation in the String Quartet Course.