The festival?s opening concert, on August 11, in the courtyard of the Rákóczi Castle in Sárospatak, will feature ? in line with tradition ? an all-Hungarian programme: Bartók?s Violin Concerto, played by the young and very talented Katalin Kokas, and Kodály?s oratorium Psalmus Hungaricus, sung by the Budapest Academy Chorus, who have performed at the Zemplen Festival many times before. The orchestra for the evening will be the Budafoki Dohnányi Orchestra under the baton of Kossuth Prize-winning conductor Zoltán Kocsis.
On August 12, to mark the 125th anniversary of Bartók?s birth, the Budapest Dance Ensemble will perform the premier of ?Macrocosm?, choreographed by Zoltán Zsuráfszky to Bartók?s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. The Budafoki Dohnányi Orchestra will provide the accompaniment.
Under the artistic direction of Gábor Hollerung, the Zemplen Festival?s programme has come to feature equal parts classical and jazz. Lovers of the latter will be pleased to see the famous jazz pianist Béla Lakatos Szakcsi on the bill, also for the 12th. The ?Szakscsi Show? will feature not only Szakcsi, but his two sons, performing in the courtyard of the Rákóczi Cellars in Tokaj.
For food and music lovers, the Gombos Hill Cellars will host a Swabian dinner, or ?Tunki Party?, on the 12th, with music by the Lustige Musikanten and a show by the Soroksár German Dance Ensemble.
