Zsolt Máté Mészáros and the Béla Bartók Women's Choir of Szeged
The Christmas organ concerts represent the finest traditions of Müpa Budapest. As the festive season approaches, everyone longs for the tranquillity and serenity of music - and what could be more peaceful than organ music, a repertoire composed for an instrument that is inherently liturgical? It is also no coincidence that a cappella choral music is part of Müpa Budapest's organ recitals, as the unaccompanied human voice is the perfect symbol of purity. And, of course, these concerts showcase the sound of the organ and the choir together - as is the case at the concert of the Béla Bartók Female Choir of Szeged, led by Dávid Valkai, and Zsolt Máté Mészáros.
Schedule
Zsolt Máté Mészáros, Junior Prima Prize-winning organist and Liszt researcher, is one of Hungary's most successful organists. He is also the music director of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Budapest's Inner City Parish Church. He graduated from the Liszt Academy with honours as an organist in 2018. The Béla Bartók Female Choir of Szeged was founded in 2006 and led by Péter Ordasi, as the successor of the Béla Bartók Choir, which was established in 1967. Its current choir master, Dávid Valkai, took over in autumn 2018. The joint concert of the organist and the choir has an extremely rich programme: featuring solo organ pieces by Bach, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Vierne, Karg-Elert, Dezső Antalffy-Zsiross and Jonathan Scott, as well as works by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych, born in the 1870s, the contemporary American composer Joan Szymko, and pieces by Miklós Kocsár and József Karai, greats of 20th century Hungarian choral literature. The audience will be treated to choral works with organ accompaniment by Adam, Franck and Poulenc - and even an opus by Zsolt Máté Mészáros.
Müpa Budapest
Müpa Budapest is one of Hungary's best-known cultural brands and one of the most modern cultural institutions, bringing together different artistic disciplines in a unique way: it hosts classical, contemporary, light, jazz and world music, opera, new circus, dance, literature and film.
