Sándor Végh Centenary: Chamber Concert

О событии

For this commemorative chamber music concert, the finest Hungarian chamber musicians – for the most part former pupils of Sándor Végh himself – have selected works from the master’s own repertoire. They will be joined by Alexander Janiczek, leader of the Camerata Salzburg, of which Végh himself was once principal conductor.

Sándor Végh was one of the greatest musicians, chamber violinists and music teachers of the 20th century. He studied violin under Jenő Hubay and composition under Zoltán Kodály at the Academy of Music in Budapest, before forming the Hungarian String Quartet in 1934, in which he ceded the position of first violin to Zoltán Székely. He left the group six years later to begin a new career with his own Végh Quartet, which functioned for almost forty years with the same personnel, producing seminal recordings of the works of Beethoven and Bartók that took the world by storm. Végh quit Hungary in 1946, returning only occasionally to give concerts; invited by Pablo Casals to give masterclasses, he took to the task of teaching. He trained the most talented musicians at the Salzburg Mozarteum from 1971 until his death in 1997, creating a genuine school. He also led the institution’s orchestra, producing magnificent recordings of works from the orchestral repertoire. Despite his world renown and success in establishing a school, Végh was not given the recognition he deserved in the land of his birth.

A day in commemoration of the centenary of Végh’s birth will attempt to settle this debt by means of a connected string quartet concert and numerous other events under the artistic direction of András Keller.