One of the highlights of the 2026 Salzburg Festival is Hommage à György Kurtág, a concert series spanning nine evenings between 17 July and 25 August, celebrating the Hungarian composer, who turned 100 this February. Through this tribute, one of the world's most prestigious arts festivals honours not only an extraordinary lifetime of achievement but also a composer whose work has been a defining force in contemporary European music for decades.

The Salzburg Festival presents a representative selection of Kurtág's remarkably diverse oeuvre, revealing a musical language whose messages are at once deeply personal and universal. Brevity, silence, memory and the subtle nuances of human relationships combine to create works of exceptional emotional intensity. As the Festival itself notes, Kurtág's music maintains an ongoing dialogue with the traditions of European music history while speaking in an unmistakably individual voice.
Alongside chamber and vocal works by Kurtág, the series also features compositions that pay tribute to composers who profoundly influenced his artistic thinking. The programme therefore becomes more than a portrait of a single composer: it forms a network of musical connections in which the legacies of Béla Bartók, Anton Webern, Luigi Nono and Pierre Boulez resonate through Kurtág's own compositions. Performers include some of today's leading artists and ensembles in contemporary music, among them Klangforum Wien, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Teodor Currentzis' Utopia Orchestra and Choir, as well as an outstanding roster of internationally acclaimed soloists.
György Kurtág's 100th birthday is being celebrated around the world with concerts and festivals, yet the Salzburg Festival's decision to dedicate an entire concert cycle to his music is particularly significant. It is a powerful acknowledgement of the unique place the Hungarian composer occupies in today's international musical landscape.
For UMP Editio Musica Budapest, publisher of György Kurtág's works, it is both a privilege and a source of great pride to be part of the international recognition surrounding this exceptional anniversary. The Salzburg Festival's tribute once again draws worldwide attention to an oeuvre that represents one of the most significant and enduring achievements of Hungarian musical culture.