For the last decade, the New Year’s Eve concert by Amadinda and Gábor Presser has become an indispensable fixture on Budapest’s programme calendar. Each year, they are greeted with a full house and one has to buy a ticket months ahead. One of the great attractions of these programmes is that they largely feature productions that are rarely if ever heard, including many that are possibly only heard once at this very evening. The first half is traditionally constructed around the most popular pieces in Amadinda’s repertoire. In the minutes before midnight, we hear the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the final seconds of the old year are dismissed with Amadinda’s gong strikes. While the first half of the concert is precisely planned – they can’t risk missing the moment of midnight – the second half is far freer and it lasts as long as the audience wants it to. Usually the New Year begins with a Strauss polka, then the evening’s guests, Gábor Presser, Henriett Tunyogi and Tamás Vásáry arrive on stage. Besides classical masterpieces, evergreen Presser songs and LGT numbers specially arranged for this concert, there will also be a performance of La Baletta, which Gábor Presser composed for the Hungarian State Opera House’s ballet performance, The Rehearsal.

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