Budapest Spring Festival Opening Event

The stately hall of the Istituto Italiano in Budapest houses the concert, offering a wilde range of truly european pieces of diverse Hungarian origins. The distinguished musicians of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe come from 15 European countries. The orchestra is currently in residence at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, and presented by the Esterházy Foundation at the Budapest Spring Festival.

Programme:

Veress Sándor: Four Transylvanian Dances (14’)
Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major (25’)

Seamus Heaney: Beacons at Bealtaine

Liszt Ferenc: Angelus! Prière aux anges gardiens arranged for string orchestra (7’)
Bartók Béla: Divertimento (25′)

Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney wrote Beacons at Bealtaine to mark the ‘‘Day of the Welcomes’’, 1 May 2004, on which Europe’s leaders gathered in Dublin to celebrate the accession of ten new Member States, including Hungary, to the European Union. To mark the 20^th anniversary of the great enlargement, Ireland’s Embassies have commissioned local poets across each of the ten states that joined the EU that May day to undertake new translations of Heaney’s iconic poem. The Hungarian version along with the original poem will be performed for the first time.