The festival started at the India International Art Centre gallery with the opening of an exhibition of works by Elisabeth Sass Brunner and her daughter Elisabeth Brunner, who left Hungary in 1929 and travelled around the world, visiting India, Japan, America and Britain. Indian MP Kapila Vatsyayan opened the exhibition. Works by Erkel, as well as the Liszt Bartók and Imre Kálmán, were performed by the soprano Situ Singh-Buehler, the tenor Yanis Benabdallah and the pianist Maroun Benabdallah. They were joined by the Capital City Minstrels Chorus conducted by Gabriella Boda-Rechner.
Other events on the festival programme, to be held in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, include art and photography exhibitions, a concert by the Kodály String Quarter, a documentary about the Brunners and a seminar dedicated to their work. The events will be carried out in cooperation with various local institutions, including the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, the India International Centre, the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Mumbai and Poona Music Society.
