À LA MAO | MAO PLAYS THE ROOTS FEAT. BORBÉLY MIHÁLY

Whether bop, folk or blues is the starting point for the Modern Art Orchestra's pieces, they always end up in the same place: you can discover the orchestra's own voice in different styles. For the MAO, openness to genre and a unique instrumental combination are foundations that began with the name when it was first launched 18 years ago. Since then, they have honed a big band sound unique to them through hundreds of concerts, dozens of albums and scores of premieres. A cross-section of these is now on display in this spring season's concerts, which focus not on a single composer but on the inspirational power of a stylistic ideal, a jazz tradition. There will also be a premiere in the spring series, but most of the pieces have already been performed, usually only once, and in this arrangement they will be able to reveal new associations and new contexts.

MAO plays the Roots feat. Mihály Borbély

It could be said that jazz was born from folk roots, but as an open musical approach, it has nurtured its strength by embracing folk music material again and again. The repertoire of the MAO has drawn from the cultural heritage of the Carpathian Basin peoples in many ways. Directly, as well as in its programmes paying homage to the giants of Hungarian composition through folk song arrangements by Bartók, Kodály, Ligeti and others. The featured soloist and composer of the concert's premiere is Mihály Borbély, a Kossuth Prize-winning musician with the Vujicich Ensemble, a teacher of jazz woodwinds at the Academy of Music, and leader of exciting ethno-jazz bands. Alongside his new piece, audiences will be treated to a cross-section of the MAO's vast repertoire, a wide range of works that draw inspiration from folk song, including works by pianist Gábor Cseke and the orchestra's regular composers.