The season kicks off at Müpa Budapest with the first performance of the Haydneum Müpa Series, a major opera production – a concert performance of Rameu’s Les Boréades, and its Hungarian premiere, featuring world stars such as Sabine Devieilhe, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Benedikt Kristjánsson, Philippe Estèphe, Tassis Christoyannis, Thomas Dolié and Gwendoline Blondeel. The Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra, founded and directed by György Vashegyi more than 30 years ago, will perform, and the concert is being made possible by the collaboration of the Haydneum’s partner, the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles.
Following the Budapest performance, the production will be touring to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki and finally the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
for early music
I. Haydneum Eszterháza Festival
For the first time, the Haydneum – Hungarian Early Music Centre is organising a festival in the Esterházy Castle in Fertőd, Hungary, from 1-6 September 2023.
The Haydneum Esterháza Festival will focus on the 250th anniversary of the visit of Maria Theresa. Among the artists are prominent figures from the Hungarian and international early music scene.
The performers include Bernhard Berchtold, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Adriána Kalafszky, Zoltán Megyesi, Rachel Podger, Ella Smith, Petra Somlai, Szélpál Szilveszter, Katalin Szutrély, Il Gardellino Orchestra, VenEthos Ensemble and the Orfeo Orchestra conducted by György Vashegyi.
In addition to the concerts, there will be other accompanying programmes: a musical walk in the beautiful gardens of the castle by Ádám Bősze entitled Holidays and Weekdays, and a programme by András Berecz entitled Tales of Music, in which the artist will tell stories about the birth and power of music.
VISIT OUR FESTIVAL!
Haydneum Concerts in Eszterháza 2023
In close cooperation between the Haydneum and the Eszterháza Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft., the “Haydneum Concerts in Eszterháza” summer concert series is being held, the aim of which is to give special attention to the musical life in the Esterházy Castle in Fertőd, one of Hungary’s unique tourist and cultural sites, and to turn the castle back into a flourishing cultural centre similar to the 18th century courtyard of Prince Nicholas Esterházy I ‘The Magnificent’. Visitors to Eszterháza can therefore enjoy a high quality, authentic concert programme, performed exclusively on period instruments, and the people who make it possible: József Balog, Piroska Baranyay, Mihály Berecz, Gergely Bodoky, Andrea Bertalan, Márton Egri, Flóra Fábri, Zsolt Kalló, Bálint Maróth, Zoltán Megyesi, Bart van Oort, Rita Papp and László Gerhát, Petra Somlai, Zsombor Tóth-Vajna and the members of the Harmonia Caelestis Baroque Orchestra: Eszter Draskóczy, Noémi Megyery, Csilla Vályi, as well as the Authentic Quartet, Capella Savaria, and the Orfeo Orchestra conducted by György Vashegyi.
39th Early Music Days, in co-operation with the Haydneum
The main organizer of the 39th Early Music Days is Filharmónia Hungary Nonprofit Ltd., an important partner since the beginning of our operation. For the third time, we are involved in the realisation of the long-standing Early Music Days, which provides an opportunity for many participants to work together with the most outstanding representatives of Early Music. The course is led by Professors Emőke Baráth and Elisabeth Scholl (voice), Zsolt Kalló (violin), Ildikó Kertész (flute), Réka Nagy and Augustin Szokos (basso continuo), György Vashegyi (chamber music).
In addition to the masterclasses, the audience will also be able to hear great concerts, including performances by our resident ensembles, the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, as well as the Savaria Baroque Orchestra, the Capella Du Mont chamber choir and Capella Savaria. The conductor of the opening concert will be the renowned British conductor and Early Music expert Marcus Creed!
Further information: http://regizeneinapok.hu/en
II. HAYDNEUM FESTIVAL OF SACRED MUSIC
The Haydneum – Hungarian Early Music Centre will organise its second Festival of Sacred Music between 9 and 17 June 2023 at the University Church in Budapest. The main objective of the festival is to bring to the fore the 17th and 18th century repertoire, which is researched and preserved by the institution and harbours undiscovered treasures. The concerts will feature works by Joseph and Michael Haydn, Charpentier, Benedek Istvánffy and Strattner, as well as works by one of the most outstanding composers of the period, Gregor Joseph Werner, from the Esterházy score collection of the National Széchényi Library, unperformed since the 18th century. Among the performers are such distinguished early and modern instrumental ensembles as the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, the Hungarian National Choir, the Budapest Strings, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, the Kodály Choir Debrecen, the Capella Savaria, with conductors such as József Gál, Csaba Somos, András Keller, Zoltán Kocsis-Holper and György Vashegyi.
The closing concert of the festival will feature works by Gregor Joseph Werner that have not been heard for hundreds of years, and admission to this evening is free but registration is required.
In addition to the concerts in Budapest, the festival will also be held in four other venues in the countryside between 8 and 18 June: in Kengyel, Tihany, Mako and Szeged. The cooperation partner of the Szeged concert is Filharmónia Hungary. The rural concerts are free of charge.
SEASON TICKET for the 5 concerts of the festival (admission to the closing concert is free but registration is required)
HAYDNEUM MÜPA SERIES 2023/2024
The series will be launched with a major international production in September 2023 in collaboration with the Centre de baroque musique de Versailles: Haydneum will present a concert performance of the opera Rameau’s Les Boréades, with a line-up of top soloists, most of whom have already appeared at previous Haydneum concerts: Sabine Devieilhe, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Benedikt Kristjánsson, Philippe Estèphe, Thomas Dolié, Tassis Christoyannis, Gwendoline Blondeel.
The soloist of the October Haydn-Hummel-Beethoven programme will be Mihály Berecz, partner of the Orfeo Orchestra, playing Hummel’s Piano Concerto in A minor, while Katalin Szutrély will perform Haydn’s Scena di Berenice and Beethoven’s concert aria Ah, perfido. Hummel’s Te Deumin D and Mass in D minor will also feature the exceptional Purcell Choir.
In March 2024, our ensembles will perform the first version of Bach’s St John Passion from 1724, to mark the 300th anniversary of the work’s composition. Our soloists will be Ágnes Kovács – soprano, Eszter Balogh – alto, Bernhard Berchtold and Zoltán Megyesi – tenor and Stephan MacLeod – bass.
The series will conclude with Mozart’s Requiem in May 2024.
Season tickets are available until 31 May 2023 with a 20% discount, full-price season tickets and solo tickets are available from 1 June on the jegy.hu website and at the Müpa Budapest box office.
The first 200 season ticket buyers will receive a GIFT TICKET to the concert of the two ensembles at the Liszt Academy in Budapest on 28 January 2024, featuring Bach’s Mass in B minor!
HAYDNEUM FORTEPIANO SERIES
The five concerts in the series will introduce the audience to keyboard instruments from different eras in the magnificently renovated Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy. Since the end of last year, the Haydneum’s collection has been enriched with several fortepianos, and we would like to present these wonderful instruments to our audiences in this series.
We will be assisted by such outstanding pianists as the Dutch pianist Bart van Oort and our distinguished Hungarian pianists Petra Somlai, Mihály Berecz, János Balázs and József Balog.
József Balog will be joined on stage by singer Emőke Baráth, while Mihály Berecz will be joined by Katalin Szutrély as a vocal partner in next year’s series. Bart van Oort, Petra Somlai and János Balázs will also be performing with great artists, the names of these partners will be announced later, together with the detailed programmes.
Our fortepianos will also be important contributors to the rental evenings: an 1825 Conrad Graf copy, an 1835 original Maximilian Schott fortepiano from Vienna, an 1811 Johann Fritz copy, an 1840 original Erard from Paris, and an original 1872 Johann Baptiste Streicher fortepiano.
Tickets will be on sale from 1 April 2023 at jegy.hu and at the ticket office of the Liszt Academy.
10,000 digitized pages:
The digitization centre of the National Széchényi Library (OSZK) has been functioning for one year. It boasts the largest and most modern equipment of any Central European public collection. Tying in with the inauguration of the centre, the OSZK and Haydneum – Hungarian Centre for Early Music signed an agreement, the fruit of which is these first 10,000 pages, something we can all be proud of.
Visit of the Empress
Empress Maria Theresa visited Eszterháza in September 1773, and to mark the 250th anniversary, the Haydneum will commemorate the event with concerts several times throughout the year.
On 26 March, the series of commemorations will be launched at the Hungarian House of Music under the title “The Visit of the Empress”, in collaboration with the Hungarian House of Music, the venue of the concert. Performances by the distinguished soprano Ella Smith and the Orfeo Orchestra will include excerpts from Haydn’s opera L’infedeltà delusa, as well as the No. 26 “Lamentatione” and the No. 48 “Maria Theresa” symphonies – the latter not actually written to commemorate the Empress’s visit: it was completed years earlier, in 1768 or ’69. But tradition has linked its birth to the imperial visit, and so, like so many other Haydn symphonies, the adjective stuck, and that is how it is known today.
During the concert, a conversation between András Batta and György Vashegyi will provide interesting facts about the event and the period.
Rameau: Castor et Pollux
340 years ago, Jean-Pilippe RAMEAU, one of the most important composers of the French Baroque, was born!
Händel: Athalia Tour
Handel’s oratorio composed in Oxford will be performed by the Purcell Choir and Capella Savaria 4 times in January 2023.
The tour will stop in Veszprém, Budapest, Szombathely, Pécs.
Solists are Katalin Szutrély, Ágnes Kovács, Zita Acsai, Péter Bárány, Zoltán Megyesi, and the New Zealand bass Will King.
The Haydneum Autumn Festival has ended
5 amazing concerts at Budapest’s top venues, fantastic foreign and Hungarian performers, 5 different genres – there was something for everyone. The focus was on Haydn, but we also had the opportunity to explore and immerse ourselves in works by Salieri, Cherubini, Michael Haydn, Zimmermann and Beethoven.
Thank you to our audience for joining us – there will be another Sacred Music and Autumn Festival in 2023!
Haydneum Autumn Festival
From 25 October to 2 November 2022, we will be holding our Autumn Festival, which will be characterised by its diversity. We offer 5 concerts, each one unique in its genre. The concept is that Joseph Haydn will be a permanent feature of each programme, with a different composer or venue appearing alongside him, and this is reflected in the subtitles.
The concerts will feature the Parisian Le Concert de la Loge with Julien Chauvin and the Orfeo Orchestra, the Purcell Choir conducted by György Vashegyi, and Musica Aeterna from Bratislava (artistic director: Peter Zajíček), Petra Somlai (fortepiano), Zoltán Megyesi (tenor), and in the closing concert 4 outstanding soloists: Ágnes Kovács, Eszter Balogh, Márton Komáromi and Szilveszter Szélpál.
String Quartets in Eszterháza 2022
The Esterházy Palace in Fertőd-Eszterháza is the only location in modern-day Hungary that is circled in red ink on the map of eighteenth-century European music history. Joseph Haydn worked there for almost half of his active life, from 1766 to 1790, and during that period he spent most of every year there in the service of Prince Nicholas Esterházy I ‘the Magnificent’.
Playing and listening to Haydn in Eszterháza is a unique experience.
The Haydneum – Hungarian Centre for Early Music considers Eszterháza a special place and is preparing a major programme to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Empress Maria Theresa’s visit to Eszterháza in 2023.
This summer, the string quartet concert series, organised in cooperation with the Philharmonia Hungary and the Eszterháza Public Benefit Non-profit Ltd., will also welcome the mentors and scholarship holders of the Sándor Végh String Quartet Programme, which has been announced by the Philharmonia Hungary every year since 2021 to cultivate and develop the Hungarian string quartet tradition.
Haydneum at the Veszprém Early Music Days
The Veszprém Early Music Days, which have been held since 2013, will offer 10 special programmes in cooperation with the Haydneum from 18 to 26 July. The festival will feature chamber music ensembles and small vocal ensembles, this time Ignacio Prego (harpsichord), Concerto Scirocco, Recercare Early Music Ensemble, Orlando Vocal Ensemble, Anima Consort, Budapest Bach Consort, Dador Project, Sebastian Consort and Vivaldi Ensemble.
Tickets, further information: www.vrn.hu
During the first week of July, the Filharmonia Hungary will evoke everyday and festive moments of the Baroque era for the 38th time with magical concerts and a real festival atmosphere. With the greatest professors of the profession, unparalleled courses and fantastic concerts, it awaits students and audiences who love the music of the Baroque. This year the festival will focus on French Baroque music. There will be singing, harpsichord, viola da gamba, Baroque dance and expression, articulation and performance, vocal ensemble, violin, flute, flute and bassoon, cello, as well as chamber music and orchestra masterclasses led by some of the most distinguished national and international professors.
In the opening concert, the Haydneum’s resident ensembles, the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra, conducted by György Vashegyi, will perform works by the French composer Lalande, while the closing concert will feature a selection of works by Charpentier and Desmarets by the Ensemble les Surpsises orchestra and choir, on both concerts with an international soloist ensemble.
For more information: www.regizeneinapok.hu
The first Haydneum Festival of Sacred Music has come to an end with a great success
Photo: Pilvax Films
The Haydneum – Hungarian Centre for Early Music was founded in 2021 as a new institution to promote the values of Early Music in Hungary and to promote the Hungarian Baroque, Viennese Classical and early Romantic repertoire (1630-1830). To this end, it provides opportunities for Hungarian and international performers, both old and modern, to promote the Haydneum repertoire at its own festivals. The Festival of Sacred Music features mainly Hungarian performers, including the institution’s resident ensembles (the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra under the artistic direction of György Vashegyi), Capella Savaria conducted by the world-famous Nicholas McGegan, the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, Capella Du Mont (artistic director: László Gesztesi-Tóth) with the Savaria Baroque Orchestra conducted by Pál Németh, the Erdődy Chamber Orchestra and the Hungarian Choir of the Kodály Zoltán Hungarian Choir School conducted by Márton Rácz, the Aura Musicale, and the Children’s Choir of the Versailles Baroque Music Centre (Les Pages du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles) conducted by Fabien Armengaud. These excellent ensembles will be joined by a promising line-up of soloists, including Adriána Kalafszky, Viola Thurnay, Zoltán Megyesi, Ákos Borka, Eugénie Lefèbvre, Gwendoline Blondeel, Paulin Bündgen, Mária Lőkösházi and Ágnes Kovács.
The concerts, which start at 8pm, will include works by Michael and Joseph Haydn, Pergolesi, Werner and Albrechtsberger, as well as special programmes, The Savaria Baroque Orchestra will perform a selection from the collection of sacred music of the Bodajki Help of Our Lady of Bodaj, Balázs Máté and Aura Musicale will play Strattner-Capricornus-Esterházy, and the Erdődy Chamber Orchestra will perform Druschetzky-Lickl-Hummel.
The first four concerts of the festival will be performed in Szeged, Pécs, Veszprém and Békéscsaba, in the framework of the Con Spirito Church Music Festival of Filharmonia Hungary, our partner.
(Photo: Miklós Teknős)
Haydneum Festival of Sacred Music 3-12 June 2022, Budapest
The Festival of Sacred Music will primarily feature Early Music performers from Hungary, such as Haydneum’s resident ensembles, the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra under György Vashegyi’s artistic leadership, Capella Savaria conducted by the worldwide celebrated Nicholas McGegan, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Capella Du Mont, Savaria Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Pál Németh, the Erdődy Chamber Orchestra, the Mixed Choir of the Zoltán Kodály Hungarian Choir School with Márton Rácz as conductor, the Aura Musicale, as well as Les Pages du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (children’s choir) under the leadership of Fabien Armengaud. The concerts held without an intermission and starting at 8 o’clock will feature works by Michael and Joseph Haydn, Pergolesi, Hummel, Strattner, Esterházy, Caldara, Rathgeber, Brixi, Bengráf, Chrio, Werner and Albrechtsberger. Some of the concerts will be preceded by music historical discussions, thanks to which the audience can listen to familiar and yet unknown compositions enriched with new information.
(Photo: István Oravecz)
Leclair: Scylla et Glaucus
@Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France
Cherubini: Les Abencérages
Casimir Eloy en troubadour (Les Abencérages de Cherubini)
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet, source: http://www.bruzanemediabase.com/eng/Persons/CHERUBINILuigi
Cooperation between the National Széchényi Library and the Haydneum
The National Széchényi Library has today inaugurated the largest and most modern digitisation facility of any public collection in Central Europe, capable of digitising 10 million pages per year and all types of documents in the library.
The aim of the collaboration between the OSZK and the Haydneum – Hungarian Centre for Early Music is to use the new digitisation centre to process, with the participation of Haydneum staff, musical and musicological remains of great cultural value from 1600 to 1850 in Hungary.
The Esterházy Collection, one of the most valuable holdings of the OSZK’s theatre and music library, contains manuscript scores of composers from the 18th to 19th centuries, including Haydn, Werner, Albrechtsberger and others. In the course of the cooperation, we plan to make the Early music scores and documents preserved in the OSZK available in digital form, and in line with our basic mission, these newly discovered works will soon be available in concert halls and on recordings, so that they can be presented to the general public.
Hungarian Centre for Early Music
Eszterháza and Haydn
Haydneum repertoire
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