Symphonia Fantasia christmas concert

The Symphonia Fantasia Christmas Concert once again offers a true feast of classical music.

The programme features a selection of outstanding Romantic works by Italian, French and Russian composers. Presented in the ensemble’s customary sequence of short, stylistically varied pieces, the music will be accompanied by the conductor’s insights, allusions and stories. Some of the familiar melodies may even tempt audience members to dance.

The concert will also feature arrangements of popular hits performed by the quartet and the symphony orchestra. The programme promises to create an uplifting festive atmosphere in the run-up to Christmas – and, of course, the traditional audience sing-along of a well-known Christmas song arranged for orchestra cannot be left out.

Programme:

Rossini: The Thieving Magpie – Overture
Mascagni: Ave Maria – performed by Zita Patak
Gounod: Faust – Ballet Music, excerpts
Berlioz: Faust – Romance – performed by Zita Patak
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 – Second Movement

—

Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld – Overture
Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann – Barcarolle – performed by Júlia Balázs and Zita Patak
Arrangements of popular songs performed by the Lorem Ipsum Quartetű

Conductor: Gergely Ménesi

Performers

Conductor Gergely Ménesi played the violin in the Symphony Orchestra of St Stephen Secondary School between 1983 and 1986. For many years, he served as principal conductor of the school’s Jubilee Symphony Orchestra. He was awarded second prize at the 9th János Ferencsik International Conducting Competition. He teaches conducting technique at the Department of Conducting and Choral Conducting of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, where he is also conductor of the Academy’s Symphony Orchestra and a habilitated associate professor. He additionally serves as conductor of the Saint Stephen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Győr University Orchestra. Since 1998, he has been permanent guest conductor of the Košice Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also appeared as a guest conductor in Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Slovakia and Transylvania.

Vocalist Zita Patak has an exceptionally broad repertoire. She regularly performs with György Vashegyi’s ensembles, primarily presenting early music, and is also a member of the Hungarian Radio Choir. As a soloist, she has premiered several new works. A versatile artist, she has appeared in New York, Edinburgh and Berlin, among other cities, and has worked with renowned conductors and orchestras, including Zoltán Kocsis and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ádám Medveczky and the Saint Stephen Philharmonic Orchestra, and István Dénes and the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra.

Since its establishment in the autumn of 2020, the Lorem Ipsum Quartet has been dedicated to performing classical vocal repertoire through four distinctive individual voices, from Tallis’s intimate sacred music to Kodály’s large-scale works for mixed choir. Over the past four years, the ensemble of Júlia Balázs, Zita Patak, Tamás Ress and Gergő Hahn has explored a wide range of musical periods. Early Baroque polyphony, German and Russian Romanticism, and 20th- and 21st-century Hungarian choral music represent only a few chapters in the quartet’s repertoire, which they have presented not only in numerous Hungarian cities but also to audiences in Vienna and London.

Organised by: PIK Ltd.

The concert is supported by the Hungarian Academy of Arts.