Bartók Seminar 2010

 

The Bartók Festival and Seminar in Szombathely, Hungary,
is a major international musical event, organized every year, with participants from all over the world. It is also a unique event, because participants will receive instruction in their chosen masterclasses from top experts and internationally recognized leaders of each field, and, last but not least because while these masterclasses are happening, a major international new music festival will surround you, with extraordinary performances – orchestral concert, chamber music, folk music – bringing you all the inspiration, variety and quality that will become an experience for your lifetime. There are lots of music masterclasses, and lots of music festivals all over the world.
It is this unique combination of both that gives Szombathely – Hungary the definitive edge.
In 2010, the International Bartók Festival and Seminar is scheduled from July 8 until July 20.

 

Welcome to Hungary this summer!

Gyula Csapó
composer

FESTIVAL PROGRAM IN PDF FORMAT

APPLICATION FORM IN WORD FORMAT
 
 



 

 

MASTERCLASSES

 

1. Conducting masterclass

8-20 July

 

Professor: Zoltán Peskó (Conductor, music director of the Pannon Philharmony Orchestra,

Assistant professzor: Tihanyi László (composer, conductor, professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music)         

                       

Orchestra in residence: Savaria Symphony Orchestra

Pianist: Dénes Várjon

 

Language of the masterclass: Hungarian, Italian, German, English

 

Masterclass material:

Bartók: Piano concerto I, II, III

Stravinsky: Firebird suite (1919)

The thorough and detailed knowledge of all works is a requirement for participation.

 

During the ten-day active phase students will not only have the opportunity to work regularly with the orchestra
but to take part in personal consultations, to discuss the rehearsals recorded on video as well as to listen to additional lectures. Selected students may conduct the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in the concert concluding the master course
(20th July) that will form part of the official program of the Bartók Festival.

 

The application of practicing conductors under 35 with completed studies is expected.

Please send in with your application form:

 

The selection of active students will be based partly on the application material, and partly on conducting in the first days.

 

Deadline for application and sending in of cassettes: 25 April 2010.

Applicants will be informed of the result of the preliminary selection by 30 May.

 

Master course fee for active students: 600 Euros

Master course fee for passive students: 240 Euros

 

2. Composition Master Course

8-20 July

Professor: Gyula Csapó (composer, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada)

Ensemble in residence: Thrensemble (art director: Balázs Horváth)

Language of the master course: Hungarian, English

 

This composition master course is designed for the immediate production and performance of music by the participants. There maybe active and passive participants. The best outcomes – compositions by the active participants –will be featured at the Final Gala Concert of the master course – a major public event featuring the THRenSEMBle (Budapest).
All efforts will be directed towards helping the participants to succeed in what they wish to accomplish. Selected compositions will be tried in a number of workshops and rehearsals where advice will be given for alternative solutions, corrections, streamlining, serving as the main conduit for the hands-on learning process this master course offers. In order to achieve the best outcome, an immediate call for scores is hereby advertised. Composers should start working right away on their compositions in advance. Works are to be scored for 1 flute (doubling as piccolo and /or alto flute), 1 clarinet (doubling as Bass Clarinet), 1 piano, 1 violin, 1 violoncello and percussion (one player).
The percussion part should be scored for a selection of the following percussion instruments: 2 Tam-tams (Paiste);
a two-octave set of tubular bells/campane tubolari; 1 marimba/marimba (4-octave, A–c’’’’); 1 vibraphone/vibrafono
(3 octaves, C–c’’’’); 1 xylorimba (2.5 octaves, C–c’’’’); 1 Glockenspiel/campanelli (2.5 octaves, F-c’’); 4 timpani (Premier brand); 1 great drum/gran cassa (Premier brand); 1 great drum with pedal/gran cassa con pedale; 1 set of 5 cowbells/campanacci; 1 set of 5 temple blocks/blocci de legno coreano; 4 tom-toms; 1 set of 2 bongos/bonghi;
3 suspended cymbals/piatti sospesi; 1 snare drum/tamburo piccolo; 1 guiro; 1 pair of maracas; 2 woodblocks/blocci de legno cinese; 1 pair of claves; 1 tambourine/tamburo basco; 1 pair of castanets/castagnetti; 1 pair of conga drums/tumba; 1 pedal cymbal/piatto con pedale.

The length of the work should be less than fifteen minutes. Works scored for any sub-section of the above ensemble will be considered for performance. Scores should be sent to the organizers in advance by June 15 (postmark),
2010. All composers will be responsible for producing their parts as well as updating their parts and scores during
the rehearsal/workshop process at the master course. (Other ways of engagement, such as collaborative composition
and improvisation may also be explored to provide alternative creative outlets for master course participants).

 The following sources of inspiration will be placed at the disposal of the participating composers: 

A) workshops/rehearsals (as discussed above), where composers will receive immediate feedback and alternative solutions to profit from in charting the final master course of your respective compositions;  

B) collective music listening, analysis and commentaries on intriguing works, exploring the contemporary musical horizon: discussions of the latest recordings of music by composers such as Clarence Barlow (California), Jürg Frei (Switzerland), James Tenney (Canada), Thomas Stiegler (Germany), Martin Arnold (Canada), Yuji Takahashi (Japan), Ushio Torikai (Japan), Daniel Peter Biro and Gyula Csapó (Hungary/Canada), Zoltán Jeney (Hungary) (this list maybe subject to change depending on demand); 

C) lecture-seminars by choice of the participants from the repertory of prepared topics:  

              1) The Role of Cultural References and Their Relationships to Ontology in Composition

              2) What does an Ontological Basis for Composition Mean and Why Epistemology is a Trap?

              3) Drones and Time-imprints: Opening up the Time-Capsule: Compositional Strategies for the 21^st Century

              4) On the Structural Significance of Timbre and its Relationship with Musical Time

              5) Matters of Orchestration (Satie, Varèse, Stravinsky, Stockhausen, Feldman, Messiaen)

              6) About the Techniques of Synthetism, Drones and Reconstituted Collage

              7) Composing with “Unpredictable“ Materials

              8) About the Role of Improvisation

              9) Sharing Experiences about the Genre of the Concerto Today

            10) New Materials, New Ideas and the Role of Technology (Samplers as Metaphors, Computerized Speech-Synthesis)

            11) Symmetry and Asymmetry: Musical Implications

            12) Questions of Text Handling, Prosody and Multilingual Situations in Composition; A Continuation of a Conversation with György Kurtág

            13) The Acoustical Theory of Interval Roots: Applications Towards Defining Set Vectors

            14) Which Way is East and Which Way is West? About Compositional Geography

            15) Interactive Compositional Environments: Shared Experiences in Chamber Music and Orchestral Music Settings

            16) Traps and Promises: Perspectives on the Twenty-first Century

 

General schedule:

July 8, Thursday: arrival, opening evening concert

Teaching starts from the morning, July 9^th

July 19^th, 8 p.m.: Composition Master Course final concert

July 20, 8 p.m.: Conducting Master Course and Festival final concert

July 21: departure

 

Gyula Csapó: a Brief Biography

 The range of educational, artistic and teaching experiences of the composer Gyula Csapó is vast and unique. Not only does he hail from the rich Hungarian tradition and the cultural influences of such figures as György Kurtág, Péter Eötvös, Albert Simon, Zoltán Jeney and others in the Budapest New Music Studio, but beyond his Liszt Academy diploma in composition, he turned up in Darmstadt, went to study to I.R.C.A.M. in Paris and to Morton Feldman in the United States (Ph.D., 1989). He was in contact with American composers such as John Cage, Christian Wolff; taught at universities such as S.U.N.Y. at Buffalo, McGill and Princeton University. Currently he is Professor of Composition and Music Theory at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, but also holds a Habilitation from the Liszt Academy in Budapest where he teaches D.L.A. level master courses intermittently. Csapó is the recipient of the ARTISJUS Prize for his 2009 “Composition of the Year”, the Concerto for Viola and a Changing Environment (premiered by Rivka Golani and recorded by the Hungarian Radio for recent release on Hungaroton.) Other recordings of Csapó’s music are the BMC CD Handshake After Shot (two editions, 2000, 2002) and his Desert March on the Open Space, label (U.S.A). Csapó is a recipient of multiple grants from the Canada Council, the Saskatchewan Arts Board and a wide range of commissions including The Burdocks (Toronto), Continuum, (Toronto), KORE Ensemble (Montréal), Ives Ensemble (Amsterdam), Rivka Golani, Trio Lignum, Arcus Temporum (Archabbey of Pannonhalma) or the Fort McLeod Art Festival (Alberta, Canada). Csapó’s music is performed worldwide, including venues like The Juilliard School in New York, Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Royal Festival Hall in London, Birmingham Conservatory (U.K.), The Music Gallery Toronto, Berlin, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, CBC Radio Montréal, The Montréal New Music Festival or the Tessara Autumn Festival in Tokyo, Japan.

 

Master course fee for active students: 480 Euros

Master course fee for passive students: 240 Euros

 

3. Piano Master Course

12-20 July

 

Professor: Imre Rohmann (Professor of Piano, Mozarteum, Salzburg)

 

Languages of the master course: German, English, and Hungarian

 

The subject matter of the master course:

The master course deals with Bartók’s piano works as well as the Piano works (Games) by György Kurtág. The master course focuses on Bartók’s Piano Concerto III.

The most successful participants have the possibility to rehearse the piece with the Savaria Symphony Orchestra.

 

Participants must prepare at least one piece by Bartók, in addition to other, possibly contemporary works of free choice.

General schedule:

July 11, Sunday: arrival,  Folk music program with dance at 8 p.m.

Teaching starts from the morning, July 12^th , 9:30 a.m.

Lecture by László Somfai on the Piano Concertos by Bartók, July 12^th, 6:30 p.m

July 18^th, 4 p.m.: Piano Master Course final concert

July 20, 8 p.m.: Conducting Master Course and Festival final concert

July 21: departure

 

 

Master course fee for active students: 360 Euros

Master course fee for passive students: 180 Euros

 

 

4. Bassoon Master Course

8-14 July

 

Professor: György Lakatos (Bassoon player, Professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest)
Info: www.info.bmc.hu

Accompanist: Nóra Gábor-Nagy

 

Languages of the master course: English, Hungarian

 

The subject-matter of the master course:

The main aim of the master course is to get acquainted with the contemporary bassoon repertoire and to acquire the special instrumental techniques. It is possible to apply for admission with freely chosen works but it is obligatory to prepare
at least one 20-century or contemporary piece.
 

General schedule:

July 8, Sunday: arrival, Thursday: arrival, opening Festival concert 8 p.m.

Teaching starts from the morning, July 9^th , 9:30 a.m.

July 12^th, 8 p.m.: Trio Lignum concert with the participation of the professor

July 14^th, 4 p.m.: Bassoon Master Course final concert
July 15, Thursday: departure

 

 

Master course fee for active students: 240 Euro

Master course fee for passive students: 120 Euro

 

5. Violin Master Course

13-20 July

Professor: György Pauk (Violinist, Professor Chair of Ede Zathureczky at the Royal Academy of Music, London)

Accompanist: Tadashi Imai

 

Languages of the master course: English and Hungarian

The subject matter of the master course:

Bartók: Solo Sonata, Violin Concertos no. 1 & 2, Sonatas no. 1 & 2 (for violin and piano), Rhapsody no. 1 & 2 and sonatas by Debussy, Ravel, Franck, Fauré and Solo Sonata by Ysaÿe

Participants must prepare at least one piece by Bartók, in addition to other, French Sonata by the composers listed above.

 

Please indicate the chosen pieces exactly in the application form!

 

We kindly ask the new applicants to send with the filled in application form a CD or DVD which includes a a recording of a movement from a Solo Sonata by Bach and a piece by Bartók

Deadline for application and sending in of cassettes: 25 April 2010.

Applicants will be informed of the result of the preliminary selection of active students by 30 May.

 

General schedule:

July 13, Tuesday: arrival

Teaching starts from the morning, July 14^th , 9:30 a.m.

July 20^th, 4 p.m.: Violin Master Course final concert

July 20, 8 p.m.: Conducting Master Course and Festival final concert

July 21: departure

 

 

Master course fee for active students: 240 Euros

Master course fee for passive students:   140 Euros

 

 

7. Other programs

 

9 July              László Vikárius’s  (musicologist, Director of the Bartók Archive of the Hungarian Musicology Institute) musicology lecture: Romanian Folk Music in Bartók's Compositions 
10 July             Lecture by Pál Richter and István Almási: Transylvanian Folk Music collected by Bartók

11 July            PhDr. Hana Urbancová’s musicology lecture: Slovakian Folk Songs Collected by Béla Bartók

12 July            László Somfai’s musicology lecture about Bartók’s Piano Concertos

14July            Musicology lecture on Bartók's children’s and female choirs 

17 July            József Sáry: Solar Eclipse; opera screening and discussion with the composer and Balázs Kovalik, director of the Hungarian premiere of the piece at the Opera House

 

Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Cluj Philharmonic Choir, Jan Michiels, Zoltán Peskó, Cornel Groza,

 Angelica Female Choir and Zsuzsanna Gráf, NYME's Dániel Berzsenyi Choir and Adrienne Vinczeffy,

György Pauk, Imre Rohmann, Dénes Várjon, Trio Lignum

 

 

Terms of Participation

 

The International Bartók Seminar and Festival is organized by Philharmonia Concert and Festival Agency, between July 8th and 21st. We accept applications for the master courses continuously. The instrumental master courses will be held if there are at least 8 applicants but they can work with a maximum of 12 participants, while the composition and conducting master course will be held with at least 12 active participants. If there isn’t any other requirement at the master course program, the selection of active participants (etc. piano and bassoon master courses) is held at the beginning of the master courses from the repertoire of the master course.

 

Day-tickets are available for passive guest auditors only, for 25 Euros/day (a day ticket is not valid for active participation).
 

Applications should be mailed to Filharmónia Budapest Kft no later than 15th of May, 2010.

 

Please attach to the properly filled-in application form:

-- a passport-sized photo (if you are attending the Bartók Seminar for the first time)

-- bank confirmation of the transfer of the application fee

 

Application fee

In order to confirm your intention to participate, please transfer the advance of the participation fee of  50 Euros
by 1 May 2010 to the following bank account number:

Please cover the costs of transfer!

 

The application fee will not be returned even if you withdraw your application.

 

Participation fee

The amount of the participation fee is indicated for each master course separately. Since it includes the application fee as well, participants are asked to pay (cash) upon arrival to Szombathely 50 EUROS less than the total amount of participation fee. The active or passive participation will be decided at the beginning of the master courses by audition. Those who are selected to be active participants will pay active fee, all the other participants will only pay the passive participation fee. The participation fee includes free entry to all master courses, lectures, concerts, excursions and other events of the festival.

 

Accommodation

Accommodation can be provided at the new student dormitory of the Ágoston Pável Youth Hostel in two-bed rooms (with bathroom and internet access) for approximately 12 Euros/ night/ person.

 

Upon request half board (breakfast and lunch) will be provided at the restaurant of the Savaria University Centre, at cost price.

 

 

Editorial board of the International Bartók Seminar and Festival:

Adrienne Csengery

Sára Kaszap

Csaba Klenyán

György Lakatos

Tamás Mérei

László Tihanyi

László Vikárius

András Wilheim

 

Organizing institution:

Philharmonia Concert and Festival Agency

 

Festival-Director:

György Igric

 

Manager of the Seminar and Festival:

Ágnes Széll

 

Main sponsors of the Seminar:

Ministry of Education and Culture

The General Assembly of Vas County

The Municipality of Szombathely

 

Other sponsors:

National Cultural Fund

Artisjus

Belgian Embassy, Budapest

 

Organizers reserve the right to change any of the program or data included the website.

 

Further Information:

(Ms) Ágnes Széll festival manager

Filharmony Concert and Festival Agency, H-1075 Budapest, Kazinczy u. 24-26.

Tel: (+36 1) 266-1459 or 302-4961, Fax: (+ 36 1) 302-4962

Szell.agnes@hu.inter.net

www.bartokfestival.hu