The guest composer at this year's festival was the Georgian-born Giya Kancheli, "whose works gained their inspiration from sources in diverse regions, constantly confronting their audience with the importance of cultural and spiritual reconnection (homecoming) and the fragmented nature of perceptible heritage," said festival director Mátyás Varga.
There were several internationally known names on the festival programme, including the violinist Gidon Kremer, who performed pieces by Bach and Kancheli, and the pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, who played Bach accompanied by jazz improvisations.
On Saturday, the pianists Dezső Ránki and Edit Klukon played Bach in the Pannonhalma basilica.
The musical performances were complemented by a contemporary dance installation called 100% Polyester by the French artist Christian Rizzo, who has worked as a rock musician and a fashion designer.
An elegant exhibition of distressed steel plates by János Megyik was shown in the medieval cloister of the monastery.
The programme was rounded out by a collaboration between the Slovak cellist Jozef Luptak and the Hungarian dancer Krisztián Gergye.
Author: Ádám Mestyán
