Guests: Myrtill Micheller - vocals, Tamás Berki - vocals, Csaba Deseő - violin This is the fourth time the Palace of Arts will have organised New Orleans Swing Festival which, thanks to its American and European performers of rank, has become one of the most important traditional jazz festivals in the region. Benkó Dixieland Band, acknowledged both in Hungary and abroad, was formed in 1957. Their first album already became a golden album. The band has won a series of festivals and competitions in Hungary and is the holder of numerous awards. At their concerts before an audience of ten thousand, they have worked with world stars like the American Milt Jackson, Freddy Hubbard, Al Grey, Buddy Tate, Joe Newman, Buddy Wachter, Cynthia Sayer, Eddy Davis, Henry Questa, Joe Muranyi, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Albert Nicolas, Wild Bill Davison or the European Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Huub Janssen, Acker Bilk – and many others. The band began their international career in neighbouring countries in the 1960’s. In 1971, they won the Montreux Jazz Festival competition; in San Sebastian in 1972, the band was awarded the Audience’s Grand Prix. In 1976, they were 'Stars of the Years' awardees of Music Week in London. Their series of success in America started in the 1980’s. In 1982, they won the Grand Prix of Sacramento Jazz Festival in California; in 1983, they were given the title 'International Jazz Band of the Year' in California. In1998, Sándor Benkó was presented with the Inter Lyra- Prize Europe, awarded by the international profession for his art work. After Sándor Benkó’s State Award and Liszt Award, all members of the band were honoured with the ‘Officer’s Cross of the Order of the Republic of Hungary’, presented by the then president Árpád Göncz in 1997. In 2004, the band won 'PRIMA' Art Prize. The band’s illustrious guests come from two generations of Hungarian jazz: violinist Csaba Deseő has been the first and, until today, a unique representative of the virtuoso Grapelli-style in Hungary, while Tamás Berki has enchanted the audience by his astonishing scat-technique and unique stage humour for over thirty years. Myrtill Micheller represents the young generation of jazz singers; her rich professional experience has been marked, beyond victories at international competitions, by numberless contributions in light music and jazz.

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