The beginning of Máté Balogh’s, Máté Bella’s, Péter Tornyai’s and Balázs Horváth’s musical career is in many ways tied to Péter Eötvös, who was their driving force in the past few years. It is therefore no surprise that the majority of the programme of the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation’s (which Eötvös founded in 2004) concert in Zurich on 26 June consists of works composed between 2010 and 2016 by these young composers. Jam Quartet by Máté Balogh, Chuang Tzu’s Dream by Máté Bella, QuatreQuatuors by Péter Tornyai will be performed for the first time in Switzerland, pikokosmos = millikosmos by Balázs Horváth will be premiered in Zurich.

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony will perform a program of Hungarian compositions on 5th May. The title of the concert is 'Eötvös’ Ungarn', and it is a part of the three year cooperation in which Péter Eötvös participates as curator in the work of the orchestra.

Picture shows left to right: Ilaria Borletti Buitoni, Márta Kurtág, Mitsuko Uchida, György Kurtág (Photo: Bálint Hrotkó)

On the occasion of György Kurtág’s 91th birthday – which is also the 70th wedding anniversary with Márta Kurtág – the couple have been presented with a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award (£30,000) in recognition of their distinguished contribution to the world of music, as well as their long and devoted musical partnership. This special tribute is in memory of Franco Buitoni (1934-2016) who co-founded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT) in 2002 with his wife, Ilaria.

In the photos: Márta Kurtág and György Kurtág with Arnaud Arbet, Pierre Audi, Leigh Melrose and Frode Olsen. (Photos: EMB)

György Kurtág, who now lives in Budapest Music Center is visited frequently by Arnaud Arbet, the musical assistant, and the singers of his opera Fin de partie planned to be premiered in 2018 in La Scala Milan. Kurtág helps with the preparations: he explains what the text means, he sings, he describes the connections between the notes, he talks about dinamics, articulation and stresses. He tells extraordinary things to the musicians, he sometimes reveals secrets about the work in progress, that one can only learn from him and his wife, Márta. The last time they rehearsed on 20 and 21 January with Frode Olsen and Leigh Melrose, playing Hamm and Clov. These two days of work was also documented on film. This time Pierre Audi was also present at the rehearsals.

DialogScene is a special music theatre workshop announced by the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation aiming to help young composers to produce contemporary duets for stage and give them an insight of how an opera can unfold from the first ideas of a libretto to the very last beat of a premiere.

In the first phase (8-13 February) participating composers will work on their duets with Pascal Dusapin and Peter Eötvös. The fellow professors will select five composers to be invited to return to Budapest for the second phase (4-15 September).

Composer Kamilló Lendvay passed away on 30 November 2016 at the age of 88. He was one of the most important members of the generation of Hungarian composers whose careers began in the 1950s. He studied composition with János Viski and conducting with László Somogyi at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. After graduating he was the musical director of the State Puppet Theatre, and the Hungarian Army Art Ensemble, later he was a conductor and (from 1972) the musical director of the Budapest Operetta Theatre. In 1972 he was appointed teacher of music theory at the Academy of Music in Budapest, and as a head of Music Theory Department he retired from there in 1992. As a president of Artisjus, the president of Hungarian Composers’ Society he was actively involved in Hungarian music life.

In 2014, following an outstanding collaboration, I received a request from the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, to write a new work for the 150th anniversary of the ensemble's formation. I felt honoured and, instead of a cake with 175 candles, I composed a cheerful piece using Mozart themes and taking into account the orchestra's virtuosic abilities. And the icing on the cake was that the premiere happens to be in Salzburg!’ – thus wrote Peter Eötvös about the origins of Dialogue with Mozart – Da Capo for orchestra. This new work is an orchestral transcription of da capo (mit Fragmenten aus W. A. Mozarts Fragmenten) composed in 2014 for cimbalom or marimba and chamber ensemble. It will be premiered on 15 December 2016 in Salzburg, conducted by Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla.

Ricordi Berlin has announced a brand new program, ricordilab, that will provide the opportunity for up to five emerging composers to participate in a three-year collaboration with our publishing house. ricordi berlin will publish selected works and provide international promotion for successful applicants and will also support the laureates with expertise in the music industry.

Budapest Music Center will celebrate the 90th birthday of György Kurtág with a grandiose festival between 14-21 February. The concert will present almost every part of the oeuvre, from the solo and chamber works to the choir and orchestral compositions. Apart from the original Kurtág pieces visitors will also have the chance to hear transcriptions of the piano pieces Játékok for chamber ensemble by Olivier Cuendet, the orchestral version of Zwiegespräch (originally composed for a string quartet and synthesizer), a program consisting of unpublished or barely known compositions and an homage concert of works by Kurtág contemporaries.

The 2014 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of contemporary music was awarded to György Kurtág on February 10th, 2015. The renowned Hungarian composer was nominated by both the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music and the Széchenyi Academy of Arts. The award is funded by the Spanish BBVA Foundation in order to promote and disseminate world-class scientific research and artistic creation. This honorable prize (worth 400,000€) was presented to Kurtág by the BBVA on June 23th, 2015. As the part of the celebrations (beside the orchestral works by Ravel and Berlioz) Kurtág's juvenile work Movement for viola and orchestra was performed by Philip Dukes and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi conducted by Jun Märkl.