Press Releases

Budapest, February 15, 2011 10:00

A large scale concert will be held in the evening of February 20 at the Palace of Arts to observe Kurtág György's 85th birthday. The concert to be organised under the title "Kurtág 85" in the Palace's Bartók Béla National Concert Hall, will feature the composer's works written for chamber and big orchestras.

Kurtág György's compositions will be performed in the gala evening, among others, by renown artists and ensembles like Keller András and Concerto Budapest, Eötvös Péter and the UMZE Chamber Orchestra, as well as Nicolas Altstaedt, Elena Casoli, Natalja Zagorinszkaja, Csalog Gábor.

At 17 hrs, before the evening concert, two former Kurtág students and their students: Csalog Gábor, Kemenes András and the Ludium Ensemble will entertain the audience playing Kurtág György's piano and chamber concertos in a free of charge concert.

Being a real world citizen, Kurtág György, who studied at the most outstanding musical institutions of Europe, used to attend, among others, courses held by Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen. He was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 1973 and, in 1985 he was granted the award of the French Republic. Kurtág György is the grantee of several recognitions like the Herder, Feltrinelli and Hölderlin Awards. On the occasion of his 80th birthday the MIDEM Music Festival held in Cannes granted him the Classique Special Award in 2006.

More information about the concert is available at the web site of the Palace of Arts at www.mupa.hu, where it will be possible to follow the live event.

It is for years now that Magyar Telekom has been a strategic and communication partner of the Palace of Arts to host the concert. The sponsorship provided for the concert and the cultural institution is in excellent alignment with the corporation's social responsibility strategy. As a leading supporter of Hungarian culture the company promotes the implementation of quality programs from classical music through fine arts exhibitions to film making. In 2010 the special attention Magyar Telekom pays to promoting Hungary's cultural life was recognised by the Summa Artium Prize in the "Culture in CSR" category.
As Hungary's leading telecommunication services provider the company attaches importance to the general formation of the society's attitudes at large, and, more specifically, the support of culture, education and the dissemination of scientific information. Recently the company has promoted popular events and programs of an outstanding significance like the Kapcsolat (Connection) Concert, the Volt Festival, Balaton Sound, the Valley of Arts (Művészetek Völgye), the Heritage Festival in Pécs and the Night of Scientific Researchers. This January the popular University of All Knowledge has been started again, with the ME 2.0 series of programs. Through its sponsoring activity Magyar Telekom renders cultural and scientific achievements accessible to all with the help of its multiplatform content services. Thus knowledge, skills and experiences can be shared at anytime and anywhere.