Due to big demand, extra dates have been added for some of the performances. A concert by the Gryllus brothers and Ági Szalóki at 5pm on August 31 was sold out well in advance, so the performance will be repeated on the same day at 7pm.
The September 6 concert by the Jazzy Chanson Due had to be cancelled because of an unfortunate accident recently suffered by Péter Sziámi Müller. Tickets can be returned for a refund at the festival's central ticket office at 12 Síp Street.
David D'Or (photo: daviddor.com)
This year's festival, according to its slogan, offers performance opportunities to more young people than ever before. Guests will include David D'Or who has gained fame by performing a mixture of pop music, world music and opera.
The international cantor concert included in the festival programme will feature Benzion Miller with two young and talented cantors, Azi Schwartz and Yaakov Lemmer, both to perform in Hungary for the first time. Next to the excellent cantors, the concert will also feature the cantor choir of Jerusalem, also to appear in Budapest for the first time.
Dudu Fisher (photo: kumah.org)
The star guest of the 11th Jewish Summer Festival will be the outsanding Israeli singer and performer Dudu Fisher, who will bring to Budapest a special performance prepared for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. The production, entitled Jerusalem, was written by Fisher based on an idea by Barbara Chipurnoi. The songs will be performed in five languages: English, Hebrew, Ladino, French and Yiddish.
Shlomo Bar (photo: shlomobar.com)
Klezmer will once again play an important role at the festival, with a two-day klezmer marathon to be held at the Dohány Street Synagogue.
Joining two popular Hungarian bands - the Budapest Klezmer Band and the Pannonia Klezmer Band - on the programme will be the Pressburger Klezmber Band from Slovakia and the Max Klezmer Band from Poland.
One of the festival's closing events on September 8 will be a concert by the world-famous percussionist, composer and singer Shlomo Bar with the Fellegini Klezmer Gipsy at the Dohány Street Synagogue. Guests at the concert, which will bring together Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions, will include Amir Ben Ami, Said Tachiti and Flóra Polnauer.
Founder of Cotton Club Singers Boldizsár László will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the start of his career at the Dohány Street Synagogue with a special event. In addition to Cotton Club Singers' well-known hits, he will sing popular works bz Verdi, Halevy, Puccini and Gounod.
A Spanish Renaissance evening entitled Alma, vida y corazón at the Rumbach Street Synagogue on September 2 will offer an insight into the world of the Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. Songs in the Spanish-Jewish dialect Ladino about love and traditions will be performed by Miklós Budai (lute), Péter Jánosházi (cello), Ágnes Pintér (vocals) and Csaba Gyulai (percussion).
Ági Szalóki
Lovers of Yiddish poetry will get a chance to enjoy Transylvania Yiddish folk songs translated by Sándor Kányádi and performed by Dániel Gryllus, Vilmos Gryllus and Ági Szalóki.
The Moldovan-born Israeli singer Vira Lozinsky will be accompanied by Regina Driker for a Yiddish song recital at the Rumbach Street Synagogue on September 4.
Also fitting in with the events of Hungary's Renaissance Year 2008, one of Italy's best early music orchestras, Lucidarium, will play a concert of old Yiddish poems put to song.
Dániel Lőwenberg (photo: zene.hu)
The Kossuth Award-winning star of the Hungarian State Opera House Ilona Tokody will be accompanied by the young pianist Dániel Löwenberg at the Italian Cultural Institute on September 1. Cecília Sípos will play the cello at a chamber music concert.
The Adler Trio, one of Israel's best known harmonica ensembles, will play classical music, pop, soul, country and Jewish music at the Italian Cultural Institute on September 2.
The list of renowned international guests at the 11th Jewish Summer Festival will include the Dutch klezmer band Nikitov, which will perform at the Uránia Cinema. The young band has in the past played to great success at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Jewish Music and Heritage festival in New York and the Fonó Buda Music House in Budapest.
Bea Palya
Hungary's world music diva Bea Palya will perform material off her latest album, Psyché, with the Bea Palya Quintet.
Another special festival event will be the well-known contemporary dancer Andrea Ladányi's performance at the Uránia Cinema.
The flutist Eszter Horgas will pay tribute to the world-famous composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who was born 90 years ago. She will be accompanied by György Vukán, Zoltán Lantos, Andrea Meláth and Tamás Kovács.
Work by Moreno Pincas
The Mednyánszky Gallery will show works by painter Anikó Róth, painter and graphic artist Edit Szalma and photographer Gábor Kapolka. The Polish Institute will showcase graphic works by the famous film director Andrzej Wajda. The B55 Gallery will show works by the young contemporary painters Zsófi Barabás, Zsuzsa Moizer and Nóra Soós. The Rumbach Street Synagogue will present aquarelles by Mózes Zoltán.
The Karinthy Theatre will present the comedy Dollar Father and the Sopron Petőfi Theatre will bring Sad Sunday to the festival. On September 6, the Spinoza House on will present the Hungarian premiere of Katrin Kressmann Taylor's Addressee Unknown directed by Diana Groó and starring János Kulka and Zsolt László.
The Evangelical Theatre will present the dramatic poem, Wise Nathan, at Duna Palace on August 31. Families with small children will be welcome at the Ódry Theatre for the tale Leander and Linen Petal directed by Róbert Alföldi.
Besh O Drom
The A38 ship will host a series of concerts by popular bands including Besh O Drom the popular klezmer band Vodku and Magna Cum Laude.
