Music Trumps History in Hungarian Orchestra
Johnson County Community College |
The Hungarian Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 100th anniversary with a debut American tour, including a performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College. The orchestra features Andras Ligeti, music director and conductor, and Paavali Jumppanen, Finnish pianist. The program will be Rossini’s Semiramide Overture, Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88. Artist Insights by Bill Everett, musicologist at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, begin at 2 p.m.
Founded in 1907, the orchestra has an established past and a bright future with an increasing audience and new artistic opportunities. Long a part of Budapest culture, the orchestra has lived through the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nazi and Soviet occupations and ultimately democracy in 1991. Since 1992, the orchestra has been supported by Matáv, the Hungarian Telecommunication Company, which in 1995 built the Matáv House of Music, the ensemble’s rehearsal studio.
With more than 60 concerts each season (half of which are subscription), the orchestra performs in Budapest at the renowned Franz Liszt Academy and the Grand Assembly Hall of the Academy of Sciences. Their discography includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bartók, Strauss, Stravinsky and Puccini, among others.
In 1997, Ligeti was named musical director, the ninth in the history of the orchestra.Under his leadership, the orchestra has become one of the most prominent ensembles in Hungary and Europe, and its diverse repertoire has been expanded even further to include contemporary works and oratorios. Ligeti's work has been acknowledged by the Liszt and Bartók-Pastory prizes. On the Naxos label, Ligeti has worked with pianist Jeno Jandó producing the complete series of Mozart piano concerts as well as concertos by Grieg, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt and Bartók.
Ligeti was born in Pecs, Hungary, in 1953, and studied the violin in his home city. He is a former member of the Eder String Quartet and concert master of the Budapest Chamber Orchestra. He has worked with all the major orchestras in Hungary as well as numerous European cities.
Jumppanen, first-prize winner of the 2000 Young Concert Artists Auditions and the recipient of the first Miriam Horowitz Meckler award established by pianist Ruth Laredo, is the piano soloist. In 2001, the YCA presented Jumppanen’s New York debut at the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. The Washington Post wrote, “Jumppanen left no doubt that he has the dexterity of a Paganini and the strength of a titan.” Recent performances have included tours in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony, concerts in France, Italy, Germany and Norway, and an appearance with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Jumppanen frequently programs contemporary works and regularly commissions works from Finnish composers. He recorded the complete Boulez Piano Sonatas for Deutsche Grammophon, for which had the pleasure of working with Pierre Boulez.
Tickets are $50, $40 and $30, available by calling the Carlsen Center box office, 913-469-4445, or online at www.jccc.edu/CarlsenCenter.
