Reviews

This ensemble of virtuosi from Budapest earned many plaudits last year during their UK debut tour, including an excellent concert here in Edinburgh, and offered an opportunity to make comparisons with their compatriots of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, who were here last month. In last year’s concert, they performed Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and showed they are an orchestra of the highest musical standards. On this afternoon, they brought another piece by their countryman in Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto – one of the twentieth-century’s concerto masterpieces.- review by Gregor Tassie (Seen-and- Heard International)

A few years ago, a CD review in The Guardian compared five different recordings of Tchaikovsky’s first symphony. The journalist described Russian conductor/pianist Mikhail Pletnev’s version as “impressionist hibernal gloom” in contrast to other, more peppy interpretations. I could also use that phrase to describe a recent program at Müpa Budapest with Pletnev conducting the Concerto Budapest orchestra.

Review from the director of Bela Bartok Centre for Musicianship in London

The Bridgewater Hall mustered a small but very enthusiastic audience to welcome Concerto Budapest and its chief conductor and artistic director, András Keller, along with Angela Hewitt, the peerless pianist who is always a draw in her own right.

Concerto Budapest & András Keller with Angela Hewitt at Cadogan Hall

As a joint initiative, four concert streams will be available to watch on the online platforms of the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra and Papageno.hu between 31 March and 6 April (at 7.30 pm) within the framework of their humanitarian project.

“I feel like we don’t have to demolish everything to create something new. This is especially true for today’s music. It would be important for people to realize we don’t have to close one door to open another."

Review of  The Day of  Listening festival in 2021 - EYES AND EARS ON BUDAPEST blog on Papageno.hu by Alexandra Ivanoff,  November 2021