Bágyi Balázs New Quartet

The music of the more than 10-year-old Balázs Bágyi New Quartet is dominated by acoustic, contemporary jazz, built on post bop elements. The drummer-composer Balázs Bágyi is one of the most important artists of the Hungarian jazz scene, who regularly performs abroad, and his partners are prominent representatives of the middle generation of Hungarian jazz: the saxophonist Sándor Soso Lakatos, who graduated in the Netherlands, the Junior Prima Prize-winning pianist Dezső Oláh, and Péter Oláh, one of the greatest bassists in Central Europe. The band has performed at numerous European jazz festivals in recent years and regularly performs in China, where they have been collaborating with Shanghai trumpeter Li Xiaochuan for several years. In 2016, their album Homage To Shakespeare, produced in collaboration with singer Kriszta Pocsai, was awarded the Gramophone Prize by the international jury. The repertoire of the group is based on compositions by Balázs Bágyi, who was named Composer of the Year in 2016. In keeping with tradition, the ensemble will not only perform the bandleader's older compositions at the Opus Jazz Club, but will also present new music recently composed on this stage.