The Musashino Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra will perform Liszt's Les Preludes, excerpts from Kodály's Háry János and Székely fonó, as well as Tchaikovsky's Symphony 6 in B minor, Pathétique,. Soloists will include students and graduates of the Liszt Academy: the singers Klára Vincze and Dániel Pataki Potyók, and the pianist Gábor Farkas. The orchestra will be conducted by the Hungarian Kálmán Berkes, who teaches at the Musashino Academy of Music.
The Musashino Academy of Music was established in 1929 with the goal of teaching Western classical music in Japan. The school's name is well known on the international classical music scene thanks to the talents of its graduates, and the academy's orchestra is a favourite guest at concert halls in Europe.
The academy's orchestra is returning to Hungary for the third time after an eight-year hiatus.
Musashino Academy of Music rector Naotaka Fukui has been presented the Pro Cultura Hungarica Prize for working to keep cultural ties between Hungary and Japan strong.
Liszt Academy rector András Batta cited the cultural cooperation between Japan and Hungary in the past as an example to be followed in the area of higher education in the arts of classical music.
"The Liszt Academy can only become a modern, progressive European cultural centre if it has strong foreign connections," Batta said.
The Musashino Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra will play in the Hungarian cities of Pécs, Debrecen, Győr and Tatabánya after the concert in Budapest. The soloist pianists at the concerts will be Chie Takenaka and Marina Arai.
Within the framework of the Japanese-Hungarian Cultural Season, a number of Hungarian musicians will soon travel to Japan to perform.
