Website: http://www.festivalcity.hu/

Date: March 16 to April 1, 2012
Country: Hungary

Established in 1980, the event is one of Hungary’s most prominent cultural festival that attracts music and art enthusiasts from all around the world every year. Since its first inception, the festival has featured a diverse series of programmes, covering orchestral concerts, chamber evenings, church concerts, opera performances, musicals, folk dance, exhibitions and more. Whilst enjoying the wonderful cultural showcases, guests can also marvel at the grand architecture of concert venues like the Budapest State Opera and the Palace of the Arts.

The 2012 stage opens with Bartók’s Viola concerto, Kodály’s Variations on a Hungarian folksong, ‘The Peacock’ and Lajtha’s Hortobágy performed by Máté Szücs with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Balázs Kocsár’s baton. Charles Dutoit will conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. Russian National Orchestra will team up with Nikolai Lugansky on Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.1, Op.1 under Mikhail Pletnov’s baton. Kálmán Záborszky will conduct Zugló Philharmonia and King Stephen Symphony Orchestra and Oratorio Choir to present Haydn’s Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae. Verdi’s Traviata will be staged by the Hungarian State Opera House under Balázs Kocsár’s baton, featuring soloists Bori Keszei, Szabolcs Brickner and more. Wiener Sängerknaben will also perform classic and Romantic repertoires on stage.