ROMANTIC RARITIES

House Music with Music Historian János Mácsai

Michaela Kapustová - mezzo-soprano
Lukáš Zeman - baritone
Daniel Lőwenberg - piano

Pieces by Brahms, Dora Pejačević, Jan Kunc, Karłowicz and Mahler

Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) was a late-Romantic Croatian composer. Daughter of a Croatian Ban, and Hungarian baroness Lilla Vay de Vaya, who taught her the piano. Dora began composing at the age of 12, then studied music in Zagreb, Dresden and Munich. She lived a solitary life, keeping contact with musicians and writers. She died in child birth in Munich at the age of 37. 58 of her late-Romantic style compositions survived: songs, piano works, chamber music and orchestral works.

Jan Kunc (1883-1976) was a Czech composer, a student of Leoš Janáček, and from 1923 director of the Brno Conservatory. He wrote the first biography of Janáček. His work as a director and music critic gave him relatively little time to compose, his most successful works include songs and choruses.

Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909) takes his place in the history of music between Chopin and Szymanowski. He lived only 32 years and composed orchestral works and songs.

The soloists of this evening are young sought-after Czech opera singers, both active in international opera life. Mezzo-soprano Michaela Kapustová, artist of Teatro Regio Torino and soloist at the Prague National Opera, has many performances at home and abroad and has toured with the Budapest Festival Orchestra as well.

Lukáš Zeman who lives in the Netherlands has performed at La Scala in Milan, the Lyon National Opera, as well as the Teatro Regio in Turin where he appears as Kuligin in Janáček's opera Katia Kabanova.

Daniel Lőwenberg graduated from the Mozarteum of Salzburg as a student of Imre Rohmann. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the life work of Sandor Vegh. He teaches at the Leo Weiner Music School and Music High School, his students took first place in this year's National Chamber Music Competition. The concert will be recorded in May.

Where is the time when the dilettante acquaintances or available musicians gathered after a Sunday siesta, pulled a string quartet, a trio, or a sonata from the closet and began to play for their own delight. Or the dashing young man who came for tea and at the family's urging accompanied the miss in a Schubert song. Perhaps this world is gone forever, everything was changed by voice recording. Today, anyone can listen to the most beautiful pieces with the best performance, no need to use a disk or CD, everyone can carry half the library of all music in their pocket on their cell phone.
What an experience, however, what joy it is to play live together. Or just listen to be a part of it all. It is almost impossible to reccreate the intimate atmosphere best suited for chamber music for an intimate mood, but the Chamber Music Room of the Társaskör is an ideal place for this. And even thoug the pieces being played were written for different eras, inspiration or purpose, they are connected by the joy of playing music together and of communication without words.

János Mácsai

Tickets: 1500 Ft, Senior and Student tickets: 750 Ft


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Sponsor: National Cultural Fund