Pannonhalma Art Festival

It is one of Hungary’s leading orchestras, with its rich history and the dynamism of its young musicians. It is one of the most progressive and versatile symphonic orchestras.  Their repertoire ranges from well-loved masterpieces to newly composed works of the twenty-first century. Through its ambitious and innovative programs and special sound, it has brought a new colour to Hungary’s musical palette.

Concerto Budapest is one of Hungary’s oldest ensembles with more than 100 years of history; its predecessor was founded in 1907. In 2007, on its 100^th anniversary, Keller András, a world-renowned Hungarian violinist, pedagogue, and the founder of the Keller Quartet, was appointed as the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the orchestra. Under his leadership, the orchestra underwent a major period of artistic growth and development, as the foremost young chamber musicians have joined him.

Keller András’ innovative concert programs are designed to engage both musicians and audiences alike in a dialogue with the music. To heighten this tension old masterpieces are often heard alongside contemporary pieces, often illuminating new aspects of both works that are a result of that particular pairing. Highly acclaimed Hungarian musicians such as Ránki Dezső, Kocsis Zoltán, Várjon Dénes, Perényi Miklós are regular guests of the orchestra, in addition to Concerto Budapest’s returning international guest soloists and co-musicians, including Gidon Kremer, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Martha Argerich,Roberto Abbado, Vadim Repin, Khatia Buniatishvili, Anna Vinnitskaya, Heinz Holliger, Isabelle Faust, Sir James Galway, and Jevgenyij Koroljov.

Concerto Budapest' repertoire ranges from virtuosic, large-scale symphonic works from Mahler, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky or Shostakovich to classical concertos from Mozart or Beethoven, or contemporary pieces from Thomas Adés, Lera Auerbach, Kurtág György and Krzysztof Penderecki, among others. Concerto Budapest has become a well-respected player on the international music scene. They were invited to several international festivals, the major concert halls of Europe, America and the Far East where they captivated their audience with tours of great success. 

Keller András is a Hungarian violinist, the founder of the Keller Quartet, and the director and conductor of Concerto Budapest (earlier Magyar Telekom Symphonic Orchestra).

At the age of 7, Keller began playing the instrument and he was admitted to the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music at the age of 14, where his teachers were Kovács Dénes, Rados Ferenc and  Kurtág György. Later, he moved to Salzburg, where he studied with Végh Sándor. In 1983 Keller won the Hubay Violin Competition after which he received an invitation from  Ferencsik János to become the National State Orchestra's leader. During the same time, he worked as a soloist for the National Philharmonica and from 1984 to 1991 was the Budapest Festival Orchestra's leader. In 1987 he founded his own quartet (Keller András, Pilz János, Gál Zoltán, Szabó Judit) and they became Eviani and Reggio Emilia's String Competition winner in 1990. The quartet regularly performs at great European and American festivals and concerts; they have toured in Japan, Central and South America and New Zealand several times.

Some of the most significant events in Keller András’ career were his performances with Végh Sándor, specifically the concert in the Barbican in London to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bartók’s death, where he played at the request of Solti George, and an invitation by Princess Diana. His recordings as a soloist and chamber musician have won the most prestigious prizes; between 1996 and 2006, for example, he was awarded six times the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis. He was given the award of Bonn and in Italy he was chosen to be the Artist of the Year. His other awards include: the MIDEM Classical Award (twice), Victoire Prix, the Japanese Record Academy Award, and the French Grand prix du Disque. In 2007 he was given the Belgian Caecilia Prix for the best chamber music record of the year. 

He regularly performs at the most notable festivals, like the Salzburg Festwochen, the festival of Luzern, Montreux, the London Proms, the Mostly Mozart New York, the Berliner Festspiele, the Schubertiade, the Wiener Festwochen, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and the Prague Spring. Keller András holds master courses world wide, among others, at the Internationale Sommerakademie, the Prussia Cove IMS master school, at Yale University in the US, at Accademia Fiesole in Florence and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. During his concert tours he appeared in almost every noteworthy concert hall in the world: Musikverein, Konzerthaus (Vienna), Royal Albert Hall, Barbican (London), Berliner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus (Berlin), Accademia di Santa Caecilia (Róma), Concertgebauw (Amsterdam), Carnegie Hall, and the Lincoln Center (New York).
 

He is a dedicated performer of contemporary music and is closely linked to Kurtág György. Several of Kurtág’s significant pieces have been premiered or performed by him all over the world. He debuted as a conductor in 2003 with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto. He was the director of the musical programme of the Arcus Temporum Festival in Pannonhalma between 2005 and 2009. He initiated the Végh Sándor Musical Evenings with Várjon Dénes in 2006, and contributed to the establishment of the Végh Philharmony. He was appointed as the musical director of Magyar Telekom Symphonic Orchestra  (today Concerto Budapest) on 1st August 2007.
 

His appointment at Concerto Budapest resulted in major changes in the life of the orchestra. Since 2007 besides the expanding classical repertoire, Keller András also puts emphasis on the performance of 20th century or contemporary pieces (mostly in Hungary).

Born in Budapest (1960) Rácz Zoltán began his musical studies in 1967 first on the piano and some years later on percussion instruments. Having finished studies at Bartók Béla Conservatory he graduated from Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 1983.

As a student he became more and more interested in percussion solo and chamber music. He has regularly participated in the programs of the New Music Studio (Budapest) and presented several new pieces in concerts and recordings. During the Bartók Centenary Year in 1981 he performed and recorded Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Kocsis Zoltán and Ránki Dezső.

In 1984 he has founded Amadinda Percussion Group and remains its artistic director to this day. In 1985 the group won the first prize at Gaudeamus Contemporary Music Competition in Rotterdam. During the past years Amadinda became one of the most renowned percussion groups all over the world. Their concert-tours have been performed in 33 countries over 4 continents. They are regularly invited to perform at all prestigious music festivals in Europe like Paris Autumn, Prague Spring, Zagreb Biennale, Warsaw Autumn, Tampere Biennale, Bath Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Festival, BBC Proms, Berlin Biennale and Wiener Festwochen. Amadinda has also performed at Carnegie Hall and Meyerson Hall in the USA, Japan, Mexico City, Australia, China, Lebanon, Armenia and four times in Taiwan at the Taipei International Percussion Convention. Amadinda has recorded more than ten CD-s for Hungaroton, including the complete percussion works of John Cage. Additional recordings were made for TELDEC (The Ligeti Project) and for Tzadik, New York.

John Cage dedicated his 72 minutes long composition Four4 to Amadinda. The piece was premiered in Tokyo during the group's first tour in Japan in 1992.  In 2000, they performed at the world premiere of Ligeti György's new piece Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedővel, for mezzosoprano and percussion, which was also composed for the group. In 2009, Steve Reich, one of the greatest living composers composed and dedicated a new piece for the group - Mallet Quartet – for Amadinda’s 25th anniversary. The piece was first performed in the Palace of Arts in Budapest in 2009.

In 1988 the Amadinda Percussion Group was awarded Liszt Ferenc Prize by the Hungarian government as well as the Order of the Merit of the Hungarian Republic by the President of Hungary in 1997, the group received the Kossuth Prize in 2004, and the Bartók Béla – Pásztory Ditta prize in 2008.

During these years Rácz Zoltán appeared as a soloist and conductor as well. He played and also recorded for the BIS label Peter Eötvös 's percussion concerto Triangel -  under the baton of the composer.  Performance venues included Berlin, Vienna and Budapest, among others. He performed Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Schiff András and Bruno Canino in several European countries, e.g., in Wigmore Hall in London, in Berliner Festwochen, at the Mondsee Festival, and at the Biennale di Venezia. Their recording of the piece was published on the DECCA label.

He has been the principal timpanist of the Budapest Festival Orchestra between 1992 and 1996 as well as the editor of a contemporary music program for the Hungarian Public Television for five years. In 1997 he founded the UMZE chamber ensemble with Wilheim András a music historian, and he has been the artistic director of it ever since.

Since 1990 Rácz Zoltán has been a professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. He has held numerous masterclasses: Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt (1996); Groznjan, Croatia (1997); the Juilliard School of Music and Yale University, USA (1998);  Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Toho Gakuen College of Music and Nagoya College of  Music in Japan (1999); First International Percussion Summer Camp, Taiwan (1999); Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia (2002); Janacek Academy, Brno, Czech Republic (2008); and at the Bartók - New Music Festival held in Hungary in 1990, 1998, 2002 and 2003.

In 2002 Rácz Zoltán received the award of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres given by Madame Catherine Tasca, Minister of Culture and Communication of the French Republic.

Born in Hungary in 1962, Bojtos Károly began his musical studies at a music school in Budapest, in the classical percussion class of Balázs Oszkár. Later on, he studied with Schwartz Oszkár at the Bartók Béla Conservatory of Music. He graduated at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music with a major in percussion in 1985. His professor at the Music Academy was Petz Ferenc. From 1992-1999 he was a permanent performer at the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He has appeared regularly in the performances of UMZE Chamber Ensemble, since its founding. He taught percussion at the DUO Music School between 1997 and 2001. Since 2002, he has been a percussion teacher at the Dunaharaszti Elementary Art School in Hungary.
Bojtos Károly is the leader of Amadinda’s instrument development and research program.

As a member of Amadinda, Károly Bojtos has received the following awards:

Liszt Prize Ferenc (1988)
Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic, Officer’s Cross (1997)
Kossuth Prize (2004)
Pro Urbe Budapest (2006)
Bartók Béla – Ditta Pásztory Prize (2008)