Symphonic Discoveries: Edith Borsos

О событии

The Kolozsvár Philharmonic Orchestra appears for the first time in the Symphonic Discoveries series at the Palace of Arts.

The ensemble is naturally closely linked to the Hungarian Opera of Kolozsvár, of which one of the artistic directors is Zsolt Jankó, this evening’s thirty‐something conductor. “I don’t have a favourite composer, instead the work which I happen to be studying or conducting is my favourite,” Jankó said in one interview. For this season, he is conducting a series of works by Hungarian composers born in Transylvania; two such works feature on the present programme, indeed both composers are from the city of Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş). 
The 75‐year‐old Boldizsár Csíky – whose first piano teacher was the great‐grandchild of Ferenc Erkel – wrote three songs set to the verse of the German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin which he dedicated to the world‐famous soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. This work, composed in 1980, is one of the few by Csíky from which Hungarian folk music elements are absent. Performing the Hölderlin Songs will be another native of Marosvásárhely, Edith Borsos, who in 2010 won the top prize at Romania’s most prestigious singing competition, the Hariclea Darclée International Voice Competition. Also on the evening’s programme, alongside late Romantic works for orchestra by Sibelius and Richard Strauss, is a neo‐classical serenade by the 65‐year‐old György Orbán. The performance of this composition is unusual because, while this outstanding composer’s vocal works are often heard in concert, his lightly entertaining instrumental pieces are only very rarely played.