This diverse concert starts with Béla Bartók’s Dance Suite, which was commissioned on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the unification of Pest, Buda and Óbuda. In 1931, Béla Bartók characterised the movements of his Suite as follows: the first and the fourth movements feature Arabic tones, the intermezzo connecting the movements and the second movement contain Hungarian melodies, the third movement intermittently has Hungarian, Romanian and Arabic tones, while the fifth movement shows primitive and peasant-like features, according to the composer. Concerning his Symphony No. 9 composed in USA, Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) remarked that this is truly “original Czech music”.

The soloist of the evening plays a popular small wind instrument, the harmonica, which operates in a way that the musician places his or her lips over the chambers of the organ and sucks or blows air through them, which sounds the metal reeds inside the instrument. In addition to his own work, Sigmund Groven (1946*), who is one the most acknowledged harmonica players of Norway, is going to play Concertino by Norwegian Henning Sommero (1952*) and American James Moody’s (1925–2010) Spanish Fantasy. Norwegian Sigmund Groven (1946*) has been one of the world’s leading harmonica players with a repertoire ranging from popular and folk music through his own compositions to Bach’s and contemporary music. Groven has made over 250 recordings and has created more than 350 compositions ranging from children’s songs through instrumental ballads to film scores and TV music including larger-scale pieces. Since August 2018, Sigmund Groven has been a harmonica professor at the Oslo-based Norwegian Academy of Music.

Between 2011 and 2016, Levente Zsíros studied at King Saint Stephen Secondary School of Music and specialised in piano and solfege. Later he continued his studies at Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was awarded a master’s degree with honours. Currently he is the chief conductor of the Szentendre-based Szent Anna Choir and the second conductor of Vass Lajos Choir.

Műsor:

BARTÓK: Dance Suite

Sigmund GROVEN: Nordic Night

Henning SOMMERRO: Solstice Concertino for Harmonica and Orchestra

James MOODY: Toledo, Spanish Fantasy for Harmonica and Orchestra

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Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)

With: Sigmund GROVEN – harmonica player

Conductor: Levente ZSÍROS 

Organizer: Zuglo Philharmonics Budapest