Festivals – Budapesti Vonósok

XXIX. Haydn Festival - Pápa

The Budapest Strings holds its Haydn Festival for the 29th time, for the 6th year at home in the town of Pápa and the Esterházy Palace. At the three evening concerts of the weekend, Bence Bogányi, the Péter Sárik Trio and the vocal ensemble Jazzation will be the partners of the Budapest Strings as soloists. The concertmaster is János Pilz, who also appears as a soloist at the Sunday concert. All three concerts can be heard in the charming courtyard of the palace.

The weekend also offers chamber concerts in the palace with the music of Haydn, and a music history lecture and concert in the Synagogue with János Mácsai, who will also be the host of the three-day festival.

Spend a weekend rich in cultural experiences with the Budapest Strings and discover the beautiful parks, buildings and hospitality of Pápa!

The festival programmes – with the exception of the Aristocratic Salon – melodies and stories – are free of charge; supporter tickets are available at the venues.

Programmes of the XXIX. Haydn Festival

Friday, 17 July 2026 – Day 1

14:00 and 15:00 – Aristocratic Salon – melodies and stories

Haydn: String Quartet in D major, Op. 76 No. 5

Esterházy Palace

20:00 – Bence Bogányi and the Budapest Strings – Esterházy Palace

Bence Bogányi was born into a Hungarian family of musicians. He began playing the bassoon at the age of 9 in Hungary, then studied in Finland, Sweden and Germany. A prize-winner of numerous international competitions, he has been principal bassoon of the Helsinki Opera, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Berlin Radio and the Munich Philharmonic. In 2009 he was appointed professor of bassoon at the Nuremberg University of Music, then in 2013 he received a further appointment and has since been professor of the bassoon class at the Hanover University of Music. He is also principal bassoon of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

By tradition, the opening concert of the 29th Haydn Festival begins with the Haydn symphony bearing the festival’s number (this year No. 29), followed by Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major with Bence Bogányi, in an unconventional form, linked with Mozart arias.

The concert closes with an extraordinarily witty work, evoking the tones of 18th-century music and the taste of the era yet romantically overheated: a string orchestra selection from Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier.

Programme:

J. Haydn: Symphony in E major, Hob. I:29

W. A. Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major, K. 191/186e

-interval-

R. Strauss – Péter Kostyál: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

Saturday, 18 July 2026 – Day 2

13:00 and 14:00 Aristocratic Salon – melodies and stories

Haydn: String Quartet in D minor “Quinten”, Op. 76 No. 2

Esterházy Palace

15:30 – A Musical Natural History – lecture and concert in the Synagogue with János Mácsai

We invite you to a musical, storytelling journey in Hungary’s third largest synagogue, with the chamber ensemble of the Budapest Strings, the music history commentary of János Mácsai and the artistic direction of János Pilz.

20:00 – The Péter Sárik Trio and the Budapest Strings – Esterházy Palace

After Budapest and the Zagreb Jazz HR Festival, the joint Bartók programme of the Péter Sárik Trio and the Budapest Strings can now be heard in Pápa. As a composer and jazz pianist, Péter Sárik is one of the exceptional personalities of Hungarian musical life, a musician inspired by popular jazz melodies as much as by the music of Beethoven or Bartók. He believes that perhaps no other composer has had as great an influence on today’s jazz as Bartók. “The astonishing power and dynamics of his works almost sweep the listener away; his music is all excitement, mystery, boundless depth and purity.” Péter Sárik has recently devoted two albums to the works of Bartók. This programme is a selection from them in orchestral arrangements by Rezső Ott, alongside some of Bartók’s works for string chamber orchestra.

Programme:

Béla Bartók:

Hungarian Peasant Songs (arr. Máté Vizeli)

Romanian Folk Dances

Béla Bartók – Péter Sárik:

Stick Dance

“Bucsum” Dance

Ostinato

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Béla Bartók – Péter Sárik – Rezső Ott:

Senkim a világon

Perpetuum mobile

Suite, Op. 14

Leánynéző

First Romanian Dance

Sunday, 19 July 2026 – Day 3

16:00 – “Festivities at Eszterháza”

Music history lecture with János Mácsai

Esterházy Palace

18:00 The a cappella ensemble Jazzation and the Budapest Strings – Esterházy Palace

In the first half of the concert, the festival’s namesake is represented by Haydn’s “Emperor” Quartet (Kaiserquartett), played by the string orchestra. In the second movement, Haydn wrote a set of variations on his own composition, the hymn “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser”, hence the imperial epithet.

The movements, performed in Panna Pejtsik’s cantata arrangement to texts by Tibor Bornai, and their complex staging form an organic unity with Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, while enriching it with a twenty-first-century perspective. The solos of the violin concerto movements are played by János Pilz.

Baroque and contemporary, transience and timelessness: through blossoming, storms and festivities to quiet rest in the hope of a new spring runs the cycle of the four seasons which, like life itself, is a whirl of play, passion, joy, drama, love and pain.

Programme:

J. Haydn: String Quartet in C major “Kaiserquartett”, Op. 76 No. 3

A. Vivaldi – Tibor Bornai – Panna Pejtsik: The Four Seasons

VIII. Óbuda ZeneZug Festival

VIII. Óbuda ZeneZug Festival with the Budapest Strings

5-7 June 2026, Óbudai Társaskör, 1036 Budapest, Kiskorona u. 7

Musical summer evenings with the Budapest Strings at the Óbudai Társaskör! Fülöp Ránki, Bea Palya and young talents in one weekend, where evergreen classics are joined by lighter arrangements. This year again we close the weekend with a goulash party. Join us and be our guest in the historic building of the Krúdy Quarter! Concertmaster: János Pilz, founding artistic director: Károly Botvay, host: János Mácsai.

Programmes of the VIII. Óbuda ZeneZug Festival

Friday, 5 June 2026

18:00 – Miből lesz a cserebogár?

Talents who have won national music school competitions, with the Budapest Strings!

Programme:
The detailed programme will be available under “concerts” after the 2025/26 competitions have ended.

Saturday, 6 June 2026

18:00 – Fülöp Ránki and the Budapest Strings

The works of Franz Liszt play a central role in Fülöp Ránki’s career, and he feels especially close to the composer’s deeply thoughtful and perhaps for that very reason less frequently played compositions. With the Budapest Strings he performs a Liszt piano concerto that the composer began writing when he was barely twenty, yet which remained unknown during his lifetime. Of the piece, subtitled “Malediction” (Curse), Fülöp Ránki says it is “quite astonishing; the shocking harmonies at the opening are remarkable, and its main theme anticipates an essential moment of the Faust Symphony”.

The youthful piano concerto is preceded by Ludus tabulaturae, the second piece in György Orbán’s Kájoni series for string orchestra. The Kájoni Codex, the most important document of 17th-century Transylvanian music history, preserves melodies notated by János Kájoni. The movements of Ludus tabulaturae bring some of these melodies back in a cyclical manner.

Programme:

György Orbán: Ludus tabulaturae

Franz Liszt: Concerto in E minor for piano and string orchestra “Malediction”

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Richard Strauss – Péter Kostyál: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

Sunday, 7 June 2026

18:00 – Bea Palya and the Budapest Strings

This concert presents works by Hungarian composers inspired by European and folk music in a special selection. Ernő Dohnányi originally composed his popular five-movement Serenade for string trio; it was transcribed for string chamber orchestra by the violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky. In the second part of the concert Bea Palya and the Budapest Strings take the stage together, in a musical surprise that crosses genres. Bea Palya is one of the defining figures of the Hungarian music scene, an acclaimed songwriter, singer, performer and author. Her musical mother tongue is Hungarian folk music, but her art has also been strongly influenced by the music of the Roma, Bulgarian, Sephardic and Indian peoples.

Programme:

Ernő Dohnányi: Serenade, Op. 10 (arr. D. Sitkovetsky)

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Surprise selection with Bea Palya and the Budapest Strings

20:00 – Garden party

XXIX. Haydn Festival - Pápa

Programmes of the XXIX. Haydn Festival

VIII. Óbuda ZeneZug Festival

VIII. Óbuda ZeneZug Festival with the Budapest Strings

5-7 June 2026, Óbudai Társaskör, 1036 Budapest, Kiskorona u. 7

Programmes of the VIII. Óbuda ZeneZug Festival

From our previous festivals: