Music has played a vital and pivotal role in the history of politics, culture and society in Central and Europe. As Central European University celebrates its 25th anniversary, we offer a musical mirror of the modern history of the region. At the same time, through music, we seek to reflect CEU’s unique status as an American university in Hungary, one that also carries Hungarian accreditation. And we wish to honor with music the diversity within CEU’s distinctively international student body.
The Budapest Philarmonic Society Orchestra will be conducted by Leon Botstein, Chairman of the Board of CEU, with soloist Xheni Rroji on piano.
The concert opens with a Hungarian homage to the grand international aspiration of Western classical and concert music: Leo Weiner’s magnificent orchestration of Bach. Weiner was a distinguished and beloved composer, pianist and teacher at the Liszt Academy, and a contemporary and colleague of Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly.
The program then proceeds to one of the two great piano concertos by a composer whose music and personality have become inextricably linked to the ideals and character of modern Polish nationalism: Frederic Chopin. Following intermission, CEU President and Rector John Shattuck will narrate one of the iconic works from the 1940s in America, Aaron Copland’s setting of words written by Abraham Lincoln. Few pieces of music so powerfully evoke the highest ethical aspirations of democracy.
The program closes with the popular orchestral Sinfonietta by Leos Janacek, a Moravian patriot, an admirer of Pan-Slavic ideals and an enthusiastic supporter of the new Republic of Czechoslovakia founded after World War I. Janacek created a thrilling musical experience which, using folk tunes, dances and marches, celebrated the creation and independence of a new democratic nation.
Program:
- Weiner: Toccata in C-major
- Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2
- Copland: Lincoln Portrait
- Janacek: Sinfonietta
Venue: Liszt Academy (1061 Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8.) – Grand Hall
To order tickets, click here: https://www.ceu.edu/CEU25/concert-tickets. Please email ceu25@ceu.edu with any questions.