The hosts of this cimbalom concert in the World-Wide festival are – as last year – Kálmán Balogh and Miklós Lukács, two musicians who together are always able to bring the most out of the concert pedal cimbalom, the instrument developed by Vencel József Schunda at the end of the 19th century. What makes their duo exciting is that while Balogh’s source of ideas lies in a variety of folk music traditions, for Lukács, jazz provides the key inspiration. At the same time, the common denominator in their musical symbiosis is the knowledge of the instrument they gained during their classical training at the Liszt Academy of Music. This evening, the audience will hear tunes from the latest album of the Balogh–Lukács duo for the first time.
Of the related plucked instruments, which can be traced back to common roots with the cimbalom, this concert features the zither, cobza and harp all used in Hungarian folk music. These will be heard in the hands of master musicians capable of breathtaking musical feats. Gergely Gertner is the last active representative of the tradition of wandering harpists of the 19th and 20th centuries, while the evening’s other curiosity promises to be young academy student László Szlama, who – besides performing on the zither – will prove to us that the Moldavian cobza, which belongs to the family of short-necked lutes, is superbly adapted to use not only as an accompanying instrument but also in a solo function.

Presented by: Palace of Arts