Overwhelming success of the Liszt Academy of Music in the Far East
The Symphony Orchestra of the Liszt Academy of Music has returned from its tour in the Far East to the everyday routine in Budapest. The young stars were heard by 10.000 people, concerts were regularly ending with standing ovations – touching moments when both musicians and audience had tearful eyes. The tour resulted in planting seeds of future cooperation and projects, which will allow the Liszt Academy of Music to be present in the cultural and educational life of Asia.
As stated by the rector, Mr. András Batta: „The Ministry of Education and Culture couldn’t have made a better decision than stressing the importance of the musical life of Hungary and letting its young and talented musicians represent the country in the year in which we are celebrating the anniversary of renewing the Korean-Hungarian and Japanese-Hungarian diplomatic relations. This gave us the opportunity to introduce ourselves on a continent which has a deep respect for knowledge and cherishes high education. The immense success of our concerts there has proven not only that we are rich in unbelievably talented young musicians, but also the fact that our musical education from the very beginnings in musical kindergartens to the Academy is of a truly excellent quality.”
The exchange programme of the Liszt Academy of Music and the Musashino Music Academy has enabled our artists to have a total of six orchestral and one chamber music concert. The orchestra performed in the most prestigious concert halls of capital cities Seoul and Tokyo, in Korea in Daegu, at the Keimyung University and in three smaller Japanese cities: Fukui, Wakasa and Hida.
The orchestra was prepared for the tour and conducted by Kálmán Berkes, professor at the renowned Musashino Music Academy and alumni of the Liszt Academy of Music. The soloists were outstanding young musicians of the Liszt Academy, who already boast a serious number of first prizes at international competitions: Ádám Banda (violin), Gábor Farkas (piano) and István Várdai (cello). Studying at the Special School for Exceptional Young Talents of the Liszt Academy is the 13 year-old Korean-British Harry Rylance, who enchanted the audience with piano playing in his home country, South Korea.
