Symphonic Discoveries: Péter Kováts & Szeged Symphony Orchestra

About the Event

This exciting programme of works by Bizet, Dupré and Lajtha will be conducted by a musician who has taken up the baton of the legendary Viktor Vaszy, the conductor who once invigorated Szeged’s musical scene: Sándor Gyüdi.

Every year brings anniversaries, some even bring several. The 2012/13 concert season in Hungary coincides with a double anniversary of László Lajtha, as this outstanding composer and one of the 20th century’s most important folk music researchers was born 120 years ago in 2012, while the following year will mark the 50th anniversary of his passing. These anniversaries will perhaps provide us with the opportunity to better acquaint ourselves with Lajtha’s hitherto almost entirely ignored life’s work as a composer. There is plenty for us to get to know: as well as nine symphonies and ten string quartets, Lajtha wrote two masses, including the one to be heard at this concert, subtitled “in days of tribulation”. Completed in 1950, it may even be regarded as a portrait of its time. The concert programme also features a popular work of Georges Bizet, the 175th anniversary of whose 1838 birth will be marked in 2013, as well as a rarely heard work by Marcel Dupré. The presence of these works is justified by Lajtha’s close connection to French music and culture, typified by his friendship with the writer Romain Rolland and others, his election as a corresponding member of the Académie des Beaux‐Arts, and the publication of his compositions by major French publishers.

Sándor Gyüdi initially graduated as a teacher of mathematics and physics, only later completing his studies at the Academy of Music. Although no such title exists, he might easily be described as Szeged’s musical director, given that he is artistic director of the city’s symphony orchestra, director in chief of the National Theatre of Szeged and choirmaster of the similarly prestigious Viktor Vaszy Choir, founded in 1958.