November 18, 2008

Márta Sebestyén, Muzsikás and Takács Quartet Give Hommage à Bartók Concert in Library of Congress

 

Hungarian Singer Márta Sebestyén between Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi and his wife, Andrea Bors Somogyi

Hungarian Singer Márta Sebestyén, Hungarian folk band Muzsikás and University of Colorado resident orchestra Takács Quartet performed a 2 and half hour long concert in memory of Béla Bartók on stage of the Coolidge Auditorium of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC on Friday, November 14, 8pm.

 

Márta Sebestyén, the Takács Quartet, and the Muzsikás folk band at the Coolidge Auditorium

The 500-strong, full house audience gave a standing ovation to the performers, who played on the very stage where Hungarian emigrés Béla Bartók (piano) and József Szigeti (violin) performed 68 years ago on April 12, 13 and 14, 1940.

 

    

The original program, signed by Béla Bartók and Joseph Szigeti, of the concert at the Coolidge Auditorium on April 12, 13 and 14, 1940, and the program of the concert on November 14, 2008

The concert attracted several representatives of the Hungarian American community and the Hungarian Press in and around Washington, among others Annette Lantos (Lantos Foundation), Frank Koszorús (American Hungarian Federation), Mary Mochary (Kennedy Center), Noémi Toka (Tisza Dance Ensemble), and reporters Purger Tibor (Duna TV) and László Hofer (Hungarian News Agency MTI).

The program of the Friday night concert included the following pieces:

1. Dances from Transylvania

2. Long flute melodies, Swineherd’s Dances, Transdanubian Ugros and Fast Csardas

3. Bartók: String Quartet No. 4

4. Bartók: Violin Duos with source tunes

5. Sonatina on Themes from Transylvania

6. Ballad of the murdered shepherd

7. Romanian Folk Dances

The Washington Post published a rather favorable article on the concert on Monday, November 17. If you have trouble opening the WP website, you may read the text here.

 

From right to left: Deputy Chief of Mission Zoltán Gábor, Press Attaché Zoltán Fehér, wife of the Ambassador Andrea Bors Somogyi, Hungarian Singer Márta Sebestyén, Embassy Chef Lázár Kovács, and Cultural Attaché Béla Gedeon

The Embassy of Hungary hosted a lunch in honor of Singer Márta Sebestyén in the Baroque Room on Friday, November 14, at 12:30, where Resident Chef Lázár Kovács gave a short cooking presentation.