AHF Cultural Affairs Committee

Hungarian Cultural News

New Biography of Ervin Nyiregyhazi... The October 14-20, 2007 edition of “Book World,” the weekly supplement to The Washington Post, published a lengthy, full page review of a new biography of Ervin Nyiregyhazi, the unorthodox Hungarian musical genius (1903-1987). [read more]

Iván Fischer returns to Washington in November, conducts National Symphony... Recently appointed as the National Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, Iván Fischer returns to Washington in November to conduct two concerts early in the month. [read more]

Csaba Teglas play in New York! The theatrically irreverent will again be on display when The Bad Plays Festival returns for its second year. From Sept. 10-30, theatregoers will able to witness some of New York's most outrageous and adventurous productions. Housed at the Players Theatre, The Bad Plays Festival will feature six themed evenings in rotation, presenting short works ranging from politically incorrect satire to over-the-top solo performances.

The evenings entitled, "Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?" (Sept. 12, 22, 26) feature "Aphrodite's Nightie" by Frank O'Donnell, "Berry Season" by Rosemary Toohey, "Down Goes Rocky" by Reid MacCluggage, "The Devil and His Sunglasses" by Csaba Teglas and "Time Went by but Slowly" by J. Boyer. [see Playbill News]

7/24/2007 - Cinematographer Lazlo Kovacs dies at 74

Laszlo Kovacs, one of Hollywood's most influential and respected directors of photography, died Saturday night in his sleep. He was 74. [read more]

7/17/2007 - Gramophone picks once more Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra for "CD of the Month." In its July 2007 issue, “Gramophone,” the prestigious British classical-music monthly, announced that it selected a new recording by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, under its conductor, Ivan Fischer, as the magazine’s “CD of the Month.” [read more]

May 2007 - GEORGINA LUKACS SINGS TOSCA IN BALTIMORE! Hungarian soprano Georgina Lukacs (Lukács Gyöngyi) is scheduled to sing the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at the Baltimore Lyric Opera. The performances are May 5, 9, 11, and 13. The tenor role, Cavaradossi, will be performed by Antonello Palombi, James Morris will sing Scarpia. Georgina Lukacs has been performing on the international stage for a number of years, in 2003 she received the Republic of Hungary’s “Merited Artist” award. Tickets may be purchased at the Baltimore Lyric Opera, 410-727-6000. [read more] about her.

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4/30/2007 - Ivan Fischer to serve as National Symphony Orchestra Conductor for two years: Declines offer of Music Director position. The Washington Post reported on April 13 that Ivan Fischer will serve as the Washington National Symphony’s principal conductor for two years, at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season. Fischer declined the NSO’s offer to serve as its music director. [read more]

4/12/2007 - The New Yorker reviews Sandor Marai's "The Rebels." In its April 2 issue, “The New Yorker” magazine published a lengthy, scholarly essay about Sandor Marai and his novel, “The Rebels” (“A Zendulok”), recently published in an English translation. “Sandor Marai is getting younger,” says Arthur Phillips in the opening sentence of his essay and explains that “Embers” was the first Marai novel translated into English (“A Gyertyak Csonkig Egnek”), which Marai wrote when he was forty-two years old; “Casanova in Bolzano” (“Vendegjatek Bolzanoban”) was the next novel in English, which was written when the author was forty; and the “The Rebels,” written when Marai was thirty, is the latest English translation of his novels. In short, English-speaking readers are getting to know Marai in a reverse chronological order. [read more]

Dec 14 - 16, 2006: Hungarian American, André Watts, performs Saint-Saëns's Second Piano Concerto in a program that also includes Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Ginastera's Concerto for Strings with the National Symphony Orchestra under counductor Leonard Slatkin.

The first African-American concert pianist to achieve international superstardom. Critics have called Watts electrifying, sensational, daring, colorful, imaginative, powerful, and a supervirtuoso. André Watts is the son of an American career soldier stationed in Germany and a Hungarian refugee. [read more]

Nov 30 - Dec 2, 2006
Ivan Fischer Debuts with the Washington National Symphony: Iván Fischer, the Washington National Symphony Orchestra's new Principal Guest Conductor, achieved international renown as the founder and director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. His debut concert was held on November 30th at the Kennedy Center. Fischer conducted Brahms, Dvorak, Sibelius, and Henderson, as well as Kodaly's Dances of Galanta. The program was repeated on December 1 and 2. At the conclusion of the December 1 concert, Friday night, the orchestra hosted an "After Words" program, during which the conductor met with members of the audience and answered questions for approximately 30 minutes. Some Washington area AHF members attended this event and welcomed the Maestro to Washington on behalf of local Hungarians.

Program:
HENDERSON - Einstein's Violin
SIBELIUS - "Valse Triste" from Kuolema, Op. 44
DVORÁK - Slavonic Dance in C major, Op. 72, No. 7
STRAUSS - Second Waltz Sequence from Der Rosenkavalier
KODALY - Dances of Galánta
BRAHMS - Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73

In related news, Iván Fischer, conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream as part of Shakespeare in Washington, as well as the composer's First Symphony.

Program:
MENDELSSOHN - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11
MENDELSSOHN - Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61

Zoltan Bagdy, Chairman, AHF Cultural Committee

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