An orchestra comprised mainly of secondary music school students brings a selection of exclusively Hungarian works to the Symphonic Discoveries series, which the Palace of Arts offers each year as an opportunity for professional Hungarian orchestras to take to the stage. The Zugló Philharmonia led by Kálmán Záborszky has compiled a demanding programme for this concert with the characteristic discernment of professional musicians. As a travelling artist already celebrated throughout Europe, Ernő Dohnányi wrote his Cello Concerto in 1904 at the age of 27. Interestingly, this is not a virtuoso piece but one that is essentially lyrical in tone – and thus cited in certain sources as a Konzertstück or concertino. Overflowing with beautiful orchestration, the work will be performed on this occasion by Gergely Devich, an outstandingly talented young pupil of Zsuzsanna Antók now in his seventh year at the Szent István Király Music School in Budapest’s Zugló district. He has already won several nationwide competitions and placed second in his first international competitive appearance. As a winner in a competition for music schools run by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, he has also had the opportunity to perform as a soloist under the baton of Iván Fischer. Miklós Csemiczky’s mystery for bass voice, mixed choir and orchestra – the title of which translates as “upon a strong rock” – was composed in 2005 for the 950th anniversary of the Benedictine Abbey in Tihany, its text drawing on extracts from the abbey’s famous founding charter. The piece was first performed by the Szent István Király Symphony Orchestra and Oratorio Choir, frequent visitors to Tihany under the leadership of Kálmán Záborszky. These two rarely heard works are bookended by two emblematic pieces from Hungarian musical history. Presented by: Zugló Philharmonia, Palace of Arts

Presented by: