“It is an important mission of the Bartók Spring to bring unforgettable cultural experiences to audiences all over the country: the festival offers those who love the arts and seek quality recreation a wide range of events in Hungary’s major cities, which are both meaningful to the local communities and attract visitors from across the country and beyond, thus supporting the growth of cultural tourism. The festival works together with great partner institutions in Miskolc, Győr and Debrecen, and thanks to our cooperation, such long-awaited productions and dreams can be realized under the banner of the Bartók Spring that would not have been possible otherwise: we are proud that the best Hungarian and international artists will perform at the festival this spring, and many a world star will take to the stage with an excellent Hungarian orchestra,” says Csaba Káel, CEO of Müpa Budapest, founder of the Bartók Spring International Arts Weeks. The first, Budapest phase of the event series, he points out, was a huge success, with standing ovations at many of the performances, a record attendance at Budapest Ritmo, the world music festival, and hosts of viewers around the world of the streamed sold-out performances. In the coming days, the Bartók Spring will make its debut in Miskolc, Győr and Debrecen, with Pécs and Szeged joining the festival with a few events. 

 

On 21 April, the Bartók Spring will begin in Miskolc with the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble’s stunning performance of The Faithless Wife, and this is not the only captivating dance production to be presented at the Miskolc National Theatre: on 22 April, the audience can enjoy GisL, the Ballet Company of Győr’s spectacular choreography, set to music by Félix Lajkó, and on 28 April, the Ballet Pécs’s Vasarely Etudes. The House of Arts will host Play it Again, the show of the world-famous musical comedy duo of Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo, as well as a concert by the world-renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov, who takes to the stage with the Pannon Philharmonic and a programme of Dvořák, Prokofiev and Bartók. The Ritmo Piknik will be held on Szinva terasz and Erzsébet tér, with brilliant world and folk music concerts, interactive music workshops and activities for children.

 

On 25 April, the Bartók Spring will also kick off in Győr, with a succession of unmissable dance performances at the Győr National Theatre. Ballet Company of Győr’s GisL will start the series of special productions, to be followed by the Szeged Contemporary Dance Company, the Ballet Pécs and the Hungarian National Dance Company. Known the world over as the pioneers of vertical dance, the American BANDALOOP have danced on ancient castle walls, the glass surfaces of hyper-modern skyscrapers, and out in the wild, on steep cliff faces. On 29 and 30 April, they will conquer buildings in Győr. Ten-time Grammy Award-winning Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval will take to the stage in the Olympic Sports Park, as will world-famous violinist Sergei Krylov and Mexican star tenor Ramón Vargas, who will perform some of the most beautiful arias of Puccini, Verdi and Rossini with the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra. On 29 and 30 April, the Ritmo Piknik will offer a taste of jazz standards and chansons spiced with folk music, Oláh gypsy music, Jamaican ska and even South Slavic folk music in the public spaces of Győr. 

 

Last but not least, the Bartók Spring will also begin in Debrecen on 27 April, with a firework display of humour, virtuosity and creativity at the concert of the musical comedy duo of Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo in the Kölcsey Centre. The performance of Sergei Krylov and the city’s own Kodály Philharmonic Debrecen will also promise memorable moments, including a popular composition by Bartók and Mendelssohn. In the first days of May, the living legend of Latin jazz, Arturo Sandoval, and the Mexican opera star Ramón Vargas also visit Debrecen. The emblematic Nagyerdei Víztorony will of course serve the Bartók Spring with a venue, for the concerts of four brashly young and talented singer-songwriters, Ohnody, Дeva, Saya Noé and Cristina Drimba, as well as for the world music programme of the Ritmo Piknik. And if you cast your eyes on the walls of MODEM, Debrecen’s iconic centre for the visual arts, you’ll see that height and depth can be exciting dance partners for a brilliant troupe like the world-famous BANDALOOP, who will add more fizz to the festival as they defy gravity suspended on the facade of the building.