Opening concert
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Gergely Bogányi - piano
3 June 2022 at 8 p.m.
Margaret Island Open-Air Stage
Every year, the National Philharmonic Orchestra performs regularly at the Margaret Island Open-Air Stage. This concert by Hungary's most prestigious symphony orchestra is an important part of the summer season, and this year's concert promises to bring together artists and performers with a fervent and timeless spirit.
The highlight of the evening will be the Hungarian pianist Gergely Bogányi playing on his special piano construction with the world's first Carbon Core center plate.
On this occasion, he will perform Frédéric Chopin ‘s piano concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21,
The Hungarian master is represented this evening by his symphonic poem “Les Préludes”. The virtuoso lived a tempestuous life, and this work, conceived in a vein of true romanticism, erupts with enormous energy. It has become a well-deserved favorite with the music-conscious public.
The other mainstay of the program opening the summer season is Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony. Like the Hungarian master, Dvořák spent a long period away from his homeland. Never forgetting his roots, he used elements of Czech folklore throughout his works. His Ninth “New World” Symphony was composed in New York for a competition at the National Conservatory of Music, where he was the jury president. The composition, which proved to be a timeless piece, unsurprisingly won first prize. The movements of this large-scale American-born work evoke the modern big city and traditional Indian and Czech folklore. This work is a fitting end to our opening concert, as it expresses the mission of our theatre: "To cherish our native treasures and to be open to the world, because culture unites."
Gergely Bogányi was born in Vác in 1974, and began playing piano in his hometown at the age of 4. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, before completing his education at Indiana University in Bloomington under László Baranyay, Zsuzsa Esztó, Matti Raekallio and György Sebők. He has placed in numerous music competitions, and was the winner of the 1996 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Budapest. In 1999, the Bogányi-Kelemen Trio (Barnabás Kelemen - violin, Tibor Bogányi - cello, Gergely Bogányi - piano) came first in the international trio competition in Kuhmo, Finland.
Today, Gergely Bogányi is one of the most popular artists in concert halls around the world. His repertoire includes over 30 piano concertos and a significant portion of the piano literature, including all of Chopin's solo piano compositions. In 2002, in a series of recitals in Finland and Hungary, he performed Liszt's 12 Transcendental Études and all of Chopin's solo piano pieces, winning the Gramofon Award for the year's best concert series. In 2000, he was awarded the Liszt Prize, and the President of Finland awarded him the Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland in 2002. Ferenc Mádl, former President of the Hungarian Republic, presented him with the Kossuth Prize in 2004, then in 2008, he was recognised with the Junior Prima Award, and in 2011 with the Prima Award.
In 2016 he was named a Citizen of Honour of the capital of Hungary, Budapest. In 2010 he performed all the compositions of Frédéric Chopin at Palace of Arts, Budapest.
In 2015 his revolutionary, futuristic concert grand piano has been unveiled at the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, in Budapest. Since then his Grand Piano had been challenged at the most prestigious concert halls around the world from New York, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center Koch Theatre until Moscow, Tchaikovsky Conservatory with huge success.
In 2017 Mr. Bogányi was invited by the Royalty of Saudi Arabia to give the very first classical concerts on his revolutionary Grand Piano in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Ryiadh and in Jeddah.
Les préludes by Ferenc Liszt
("Preludes" or "The Beginnings"), S.97, is the third of Franz Liszt's thirteen symphonic poems.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, by Frédéric Chopin
The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", by Antonín Dvořák
Domonkos Héja was born in Budapest, grew up in a family of musicians and played the piano, viola and drums. In 1998 he successfully completed the courses in conducting and percussion at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. In the same year he won first prize at the 9th International Conducting Competition of Hungarian Television and shortly thereafter other prizes at the Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in Athens.
In 1993 Héja founded the Danubia Orchestra, of which he was musical director until 2013. As the most promi sing Hungarian conductor he received the Liszt Prize in 2003 and the Junior Prima Prize in 2008. Héja made his debut at the Hungarian State Opera in 2001 with Puccini's »La Bohème«. From 2005 to 2012 he was 1. Kapellmeister at the Theater Chemnitz, from 2011 to 2013 general music director of the Hungarian State Opera, with which he is still closely connected as a guest conductor. In addition he guested i.a. with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, DSO Berlin, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mecklenburg State Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra Freiburg, Presidential Symphony Orchestra Ankara and the leading Hungarian orchestras.
In addition to concerts, contemporary music and operas Domonko's Héja repertoire also includes oratorios and sacred works as well as the most important symphonies, ballets, operettas and musicals. One focus is on the music of Hungarian composers from Franz Liszt to Ernö Dohnányi and György Ligeti.
Since the beginning of the 2015/16 season, Domonkos Héja has been general music director at the Staatstheater Augsburg. He conducted i.a. Alexander Zemlinsky's »Der König Kandaules«, Dimitri Shostakovich's »Lady Macbeth von Mzensk«, Carl Maria von Weber's »Der Freischütz«, Giuseppe Verdi's »La forza del destino«, Charles Gounods »Werther« und »Faust«, Gaetano Donizettis »Don Pasquale«, Richard Strauss’ »Ariadne auf Naxos«, und Benjamin Brittens »Peter Grimes«.
The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra has been one of Hungary’s leading symphony orchestras for over ninety years.
The era marked by the name of János Ferencsik and Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro was followed by a new chapter in the history of the orchestra when in 1997 Zoltán Kocsis became general music director. In almost two decades the orchestra underwent renewal and – with versatility befitting a national symphony orchestra – it performs not only classical pieces, but also numerous other important works previously missing from the repertoire, including Hungarian music of the recent past and our days, and popular chamber music concerts and events for young people. The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra has performed the works of Richard Strauss, Debussy, Schoenberg, Ravel and Rachmaninov in some ambitious, void-filling projects, and importantly it also promotes the cause of 20th and 21st-century contemporary Hungarian music.
Despite its size, the orchestra actually functions more like a chamber orchestra in terms of the sensitivity with which its members listen to, and work in tandem with, one another. The musicians are allowed to shine, yet still share responsibility for the collective. They also share the aim of achieving and delivering the highest level of quality at every performance, an ambition that goes far beyond simply playing all the notes perfectly.
After the death of Zoltán Kocsis, the Ferenc Liszt Award-winning Zsolt Hamar held the post of Musical Director at the Hungarian National Philharmonic from March 2017 to August 2020. He previously worked with the orchestra as its first permanent conductor and built up an impressive international career.
The oeuvre of Bartók features prominently in the repertoire of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, with many authoritative interpretations recorded in the Bartók New CD Series. Its subscription concerts feature world-famous guest soloists and conductors, as well as highly gifted young Hungarian musicians. The orchestra has appeared in the greatest venues and festivals around the world, including Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, the Megaron in Athens, the Bozar Centre in Brussels, Francfort’s Alte Oper, the Enescu Festival in Romania, as well as the Colmar and Canary Islands Festivals. In the past 15 years the orchestra has given over 350 concerts in some 40 countries, and is a returning guest in France, Japan, Germany, Romania, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia.
