Zoltán Kocsis was one of the most influential artists in the history of Hungarian music, and his premature death is an irreplaceable loss for all of us. Kocsis was originally scheduled to conduct Concerto Budapest on 8 March, but instead the concert will be our chance to pay homage to his memory.

The 30-year-old Mozart created his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major with easy virtuosity and poetically expressive woodwind parts. The 1786 piece presents us with the composer as he is celebrated by Vienna's audience of connoisseurs: frequently quoted in film music and rich in emotion, the concerto dates from the most fertile six months of the artist's life. Performing this work will be Tamás Érdi, of whom Kocsis, his mentor, said, "He touches the keys with much more sensitivity than a sighted person does. I believe that his playing includes certain dynamic realms of sensitivity that are simply not naturally possible for the rest of us... He opens up a new world, a new dimension that no one else has.” (Zoltán Kocsis, Parlando, January 2010). 
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is a perfect expression of human togetherness and human values. In recognition of its pre-eminent cultural role and universal worth, UNESCO included it on its "Memory of the World” list, thus paying tribute to one of the loftiest achievements in the history of humanity, just as Concerto Budapest is doing before Zoltán Kocsis.