This exhibition on the life and composing career of György Ligeti, who was born 100 years ago, aims to draw a portrait of both one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century and the era itself. The panels outline the stages in the life of an East-Central European artist, from his beginnings in Transylvania, through his years at the Budapest Liszt Academy, to his emigration in 1956 and the path to world fame. The images and documents on view also throw some light on the contexts of such influential compositions by Ligeti as Apparitions, Atmosphères and Le Grand Macabre. In the last creative period of the composer, who visited Hungary more and more frequently from the 1970s onwards, his roots in Hungarian culture and folk music, which proved unbreakable, became important again. The last two panels of the exhibition introduce visitors to the world of the Violin Concerto and Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedűvel, a setting of poems by Sándor Weöres.

The exhibition is on view between 6 April and 18 May.

Partner: Institute for Musicology at the Research Centre for the Humanities, ELKH