As a result of the project, the academy will become a regional centre for music and music education, said András Batta, a rector at the academy.
Before the reconstruction can begin, a building in nearby Wesselényi Street utca, which the academy recently acquired, must be renovated. (Permits for this project will be organised in the coming weeks and a tender for the work called soon.) After the renovation is finished, the reconstruction of the academy's building on Liszt Ferenc tér can begin, probably in the summer of 2009, according to Batta.
The reconstruciton will be unparlalleled, says Batta. The latest technology will be used to ensure the building's extraordinary design is unharmed. Earlier changes made to accomodate the academy's growing number of students will be undone and the building's spaces returned to their original functions. The stage will be reinstalled in the academy's chamber theater, and additions to the builidng which do not fit with its overall style - for example, its lighting - will be replaced, Batta said.
The academy will move its main offices and several faculties into the building in Wesselényi utca in 2008, according to plan. A café will be opened in the building's ground floor which is also expected to draw tourists.
The academy does not wish to compete with the Palace of Arts - Budapest's biggest modern concert venue - rather it aims to continue offering the type of concerts it has traditionally included on its programme, such as chamber productions, though this does not exclude orchestra concerts, Batta said. He likened the academy's role in its newly reconstructed building to that of the Theater Akademie in Munich.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
