The Kissinger Sommer classical music festival in southern Germany’s Bad Kissingen takes place from 17 June to 17 July 2022 offering an outstanding programme once more, with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra performing on 2 July. The concert will be streamed, available through THIS LINK.

This year’s event has been given the title “Heart of European Music” (Herz der europäischen Musik). According to the organizers, Hungarian musical traditions, composers and compositions, as well as Hungarian musicians, have had and continue to have a significant influence on the whole European region; with the Czech Republic and Austria, we are an integral part of the Central European music. Throughout history, Hungarian music and traditions have always guided, influenced and inspired the cultural life of the whole continent.

Our orchestra’s concert on 2 July will shed light on the motivations stemming from folk music and gypsy music through classics of the music literature. Our ensemble will open the festival with one of the most popular pieces in its repertoire, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances. 

We will then expand into a large orchestra and perform Brahms’ Double Concerto, interpreted by two world-class Hungarian artists, István Várdai and Kristóf Baráti.

The second half of the concert promises a real festival atmosphere: after the Hungarian-inspired second movement of Brahms’ Sextet Op. 18, the performers will be joined by Lajos Sárközy Jr. and his orchestra. With their performance, they will add improvisational elements to Leó Weiner’s Divertimento, followed by real gypsy music, while with István Várdai they will also perform Dávid Popper’s famous Hungarian Rhapsody. The concert will conclude with joyful music: three Hungarian dances by Brahms (1, 5, 6) will be performed by all the participants.

Alongside some of the finest German orchestras, the nearly 100 events in the series will feature world-renowned conductors and international soloists, with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and other Hungarian artists such as Ádám Fischer, András Schiff and Roby Lakatos and his ensemble raising the standard of the festival. Among the international artists we find Janine Jansen and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Magdalena Kožena, Isabella Faust, Julia Fischer, Daniil Trifonov, the Wiener Symphoniker and many others.

Our orchestra’s concert, both the live feed and the recording, will be available online via THIS LINK.

Date: 02 July 2022, Saturday 7:30 pm

Artistic director and soloist: István Várdai (cello)

Soloist: Kristóf Baráti (violin), Sárközy Trio (Lajos Sárközy (violin), Sándor Csík (double bass), Gyula Csík (cimbalom))

Concert master: Péter Tfirst

Programme:

Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances
Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102

Interval

Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18, 2nd mvt
Weiner: Divertimento No.1, op. 20
Kodály: The Kállai Double Dance
Popper: Hungarian Rhapsody
Brahms: Hungarian Dances No. 1, 5, 6