As the new Cultural Grand Prize-winner of the city of Pécs, the Pannon Philharmonic, is now launching its 2023/2024 Season, titled PRESENT, on 14 September 2023 at 7 pm at the Kodály Centre. At the opening concert of the season, Fantastic Start, the musicians of the orchestra, together with its long-established partners, chief conductor Tibor Bogányi and the pianist Gergely Bogányi, will set the tremendous pace of the season together: we can meet the PFZ more than 30 times at symphonic concerts in Pécs and nearly 10 times in Budapest; they will also perform at the Musikverein in Vienna.

The ensemble works with eight collaboration partners ranging from Müpa to the Cziffra Festival, and a dozen conductors give each other the baton from Gérard Korsten and the special talent Nicolò Umberto Foron to Gábor Káli. The season's repertoire encompasses an immense range of music literature from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, performed first 200 years ago, to the world premiere of György Orbán's Symphony No. 2. The ensemble continues its programme series for children and its chamber concerts, and they will also participate in the fairy tale opera production written by Zsófia Tallér, presented by the National Theatre of Pécs.

The ensemble recognised as the "ambassador of quality" collected the internationally prestigious accolade Le Grand Prix culturel de la Ville de Pécs, the Cultural Grand Prize of the City of Pécs on the Feast Day of Pécs. The Grand Prize has been awarded by the city's General Assembly since 2011 to outstanding artists who contribute to the city's international status and visibility and to the reinforcement of its character as a cultural hub. The Pannon Philharmonic received the award for its decades-long, high-quality artistic work, walking in the footsteps of such prize-winning musical artists as opera singer Placido Domingo, guitarist Al Di Meola, pianists Zoltán Kocsis and Jenő Jandó and conductor Tamás Lakner.

 

The season announced under the title PRESENT  is launched on 14 September at the Kodály Centre with the opening concert Fantastic Start, where Gergely Bogányi plays Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto in B minor, a lesser-known work by Josef Suk and Smetana's popular Moldau under the baton of chief conductor Tibor Bogányi. The orchestra has plenty of curiosities in store for us: we can witness the premiere of György Orbán's Symphony No. 2 both in Pécs and in Müpa. The ensemble commemorates the 150th anniversary of Budapest: in addition to Bartók's Dance Suite written in honour of the capital, the concert will also feature Dohnányi's Festive Overture just like Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, first performed 200 years ago, occasioned by the 20-year anniversary of Hungary's accession to the European Union. Gergely Bogányi's composition, Al Ula, will be performed at the Liszt Academy, while the Turkish composer Ahmet Adnan Saygun's Symphony No. 5 will be presented in Pécs and in Müpa. 

During the season, a dozen conductors will stand on the podium of the Pannon Philharmonic. First, at the end of September, Leo McFall, chief conductor of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra of Austria, is coming to Pécs and Budapest, where he will conduct Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1 and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3 alongside the violinist Jennifer Pike. At the opening concert of PFZ's Flirt Series at the end of October, the uniquely talented Nicolò Umberto Foron will be conducting a programme presenting legends, fairy tales and magic music from Harry Potter, which has by now turned into a classic. He is this year's assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, awarded with the Deutschlandfunk (the German National Radio) and Musikfest Bremen's Artist-in-Residence Award as "Young Artist of the Year". Boon Hua Lien, the young Singaporean conductor, will be conducting the world premiere of Donghoon Shin's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with Kristóf Baráti, alongside rarely heard works by Lutosławski and Britten in Pécs in December.

On 13 April, the concert titled Bridgemen in Pécs focuses on the art of Béla Bartók and George Enescu. The conductor of the evening, Gabriel Bebeșelea, is chief conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in Bucharest and Artistic Director of the Musica Ricercata Ensemble and Festival. Gérard Korsten, taking to the podium both in Pécs and Budapest in early May 2024, has conducted more than a hundred orchestras in 24 countries, acted as chief conductor of the London Mozart Players, the Pretoria-based South African State Theatre and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra Uppsala. He was also the Music Director of the Cagliari Opera House and chief conductor of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra. In his concert, Alpha and Omega, held in collaboration with PFZ, he will conduct Beethoven's first and last symphonies with renowned soloists and the Hungarian Radio Choir. Last but not least, Charles Olivieri-Munroe will arrive on PFZ's conducting podium on the Day of Hungarian Classical Music, conducting Endre Szervánszky's Serenade for Clarinet and Orchestra, with the solo performance of Milan Rericha. The talented and charismatic conductor conducting the most outstanding international orchestras of Israel, Toronto, Sydney, St. Petersburg, Munich, Kyoto and Berlin is now coming to Pécs.

 

Among the Hungarian conductors, the first conductor of the Mecklenburg State Theatre, Levente Török, is going to lead the Pannon Philharmonic in mid-October. He will conduct Beethoven's Piano Concerto in G major with Klara Min as soloist, alongside works by such free-spirited composers as Poulenc, Ibert and Ravel. Gábor Káli will present himself at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Staatsoper in Hamburg, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and the Brussels Philharmonic, and in March, the world-famous guitar virtuoso Rafael Aguirre will be his partner at his concert with the PFZ. Domonkos Héja, Music Director of the Augsburg Theatre, will be conducting Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto with the kind participation of the saxophonist Valentine Michaud in his joint concert with the PFZ, besides Janaček and Shostakovich's compositions. The Liszt prize-winner and Meritorious Artist Gergely Kesselyák will conduct György Orbán's Symphony No. 2 in honour of the master's 80th birthday as well as Mahler's Symphony No. 4. At the final concert of the Flirt Series in Pécs in mid-May, the Kossuth-, Liszt, Meritorious Artist and Prima Primissima Award-winning Music Director of Concerto Budapest, András Keller will come to conduct the PFZ while giving a Mozart and Beethoven recital with the soloist, the pianist Mihály Berecz. 

The Kossuth- and Liszt Award-winning violinist Kristóf Baráti deserves special attention among the international and Hungarian star conductors, soloists and celebrated singers: the excellent professional relationship is well reflected by the fact that he will perform three times with the ensemble in the next season. Among other works, he will play Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2 on the stage of the Musikverein in Vienna, but the audience can also enjoy his Romantic and contemporary interpretations: https://www.pfz.hu/koncert/1616/paratlan-bartok-portre.

In September and October, PFZ’s Bartók's Peerless Portrait will feature on the MEZZO television channel (in collaboration with Medici), a concert given by the ensemble in partnership with  Baráti at the Kodály Centre in the spring of 2023. The concert was made into a concert film, which is also broadcast on the renowned music television channel. This event was the first to feature all four of Bartók's compositions for violin: Rhapsodies No. 1 and 2 and the Violin Concertos No. 1 and 2 under the baton of Tibor Bogányi. The quality sound recording was produced by

Ibolya Tóth music director and János Bohus sound engineer (Phoenix Stúdió) and Kodály Center's sound engineer, Zoltán Baranyai, and filming by Pilvax Stúdió.

In September, Gergely Bogányi will perform Tchaikovsky; in October Klara Min will play Beethoven; in November János Balázs will interpret Rachmaninoff on the piano, while we can hear Radu Paladi's Piano Concerto played by József Balog, who has just added this little-known but highly virtuoso composition to his repertoire, as well as Hans Abrahamsen's piece, Left, Alone. Some other unique concertos will also feature, such as Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto performed by Valentine Michaud or Joaquin Rodrigo Aranjuez' Guitar Concerto rendered by Rafael Aguirre.

In cooperation with its partners, PFZ will take to the stage of the 7th Students' Festival, the Music Harvest of Philharmonia Hungary, the gala concert of the 27th European Winesong Festival, the Cziffra Festival, the award ceremony of the Bertók Award of Jelenkor, the opening concert of the Turkish-Hungarian season of the Hungarian State in Istanbul and Ankara, the Marathon Series of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, on the birthday concert of the 50-year-old Gergely Bogányi at the Liszt Academy. On the Day of Hungarian Classical Music, PFZ will collaborate with the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation and record an album with the founder of Festival Academy Budapest, Barnabás Kelemen, featuring the violin concertos dedicated to legendary Hungarian violinists. The Danubia Orchestra will give concerts upon the invitation of the PFZ twice: at Péter Janklovics' comic presentation, Music-Hater 2.0, and the Flirt Series, Máté Hámori will be fighting adversity in music.

PFZ continues its educational programme series, octOPUS, at the Kodály Centre, offering a series of concerts for all ages, for which a subscription can also be purchased. Young music lovers between 6-18 years are allowed free of charge admission to adult subscription concerts. The concerts, also acting as digital detoxifiers, provide quality time together for families.

The orchestra's online paging programme brochure PRESENT is available at https://www.pfz.hu/musorfuzet

 

Season tickets of the Pannon Philharmonic in the 2023/24 season can be viewed at https://www.pfz.hu/berletek

 

 

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