This year as well, the concert series looking back at a rich history of over a quarter of a century offers a delightful cultural experience and a splendid tourist attraction at the same time as a supporting program of the FINA World Aquatic Championships.

This year, besides the symphony orchestras, the Sabbathsong Klezmer Band, the Semmelweis Choir and such regular and long-established contributing performers as the Budapest Bar and the Hungarian Heritage and Hungaricum Award winning Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra will make summer nights even more thrilling and unforgettable in the City Park.

The season opening will be followed by the performance of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, the Semmelweis Choir, the Budapest String Orchestra and the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, while the concert of the Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra will close the series on August 17.

The most well-known and significant pieces of music history will be performed in the historical setting: the compositions of Tchaikovsky, Bach, Beethoven, Orff, Vivaldi, Puccini, Liszt, Brahms, Händel, Mendelssohn and Strauss.

On July 24, within the framework of a special concert, the classical adaptation of the much-loved Hair musical ‒ a universal favorite popular all over the world ‒ will be performed in the rendering of the Musica Sonora Chamber Orchestra and the Semmelweis Choir.

The program of the summer music festival will be enriched by the performance of the Budapest Bar (July 31), the Sabbathsong Klezmer Band (August 3) and the Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra (August 14).

The performance of the Sabbathsong Klezmer Band will feature on violin Nándor Beke Farkas and the Paganini of the cimbalom, the Kossuth Prize winner Oszkár Ökrös as well. Let the Vajdahunyad Castle Summer Music Festival color our summer evenings with a touch of romantic experience.

Vajdahunyad Castle. Island on the mainland. Intimate boundaries in a world without limits.

Detailed program:

24 July 2017, 8.30 pm (rain date: 25 July, 8.30 pm) - Musica Sonora Chamber Orchestra

Conductor: Péter Illényi
Semmelweis Choir (artistic director: Márta Oláh)
Judit Andrejszki – soprano
Boglárka Pejtsik – child soprano
Péter Bozi – countertenor
Gábor Légrádi – tenor
Tibor Szomora – violin

Meeting Of Musical Worlds

Elgar: Salut d'amour, Op.12
Tchaikovsky: Violin concerto in D major Op. 35.
***
James Rado – Gerome Ragni – Galt MacDermot – Péter Pejtsik
Hair – musical arranged for classical orchestra

Ticket price: HUF 3500

27 July 2017, 8.30 pm (rain date: 28 July, 8.30 pm) - Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra

Artistic director: Károly Botvay
Concertmaster: János Pilz

Water Music

Vivaldi: Symphony in G major RV 149
G. F. Händel: Water Music HWV 348-350
***
G. F. Händel: Concerto grosso in D minor, op. 6 No. 10 HWV 328
F. Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 9 in C major MWV N9

Ticket price: HUF 5500

31 July 2017, 8.30 pm (rain date: 1 August, 8.30 pm) - Budapest Bar

Artistic director: Róbert Farkas (violin, guitar)
Mihály Farkas – cimbalom
Károly Ökrös – accordion, piano
Richárd Farkas – double bass
Ferenc Kisvári – drums
With singers: Dóri Behumi, Juci Németh, Frenk, György Ferenczi, András Keleti, László Kollár-Klemencz.

Encounter of periods, cultures and styles, with a brilliantly orchestrated Gypsy orchestra accompaniment. A Gypsy music reinterpretation of well known and popular songs blended with elements of jazz, pop, rock, klezmer and other genres. Real, quality music to enjoy!

Ticket price: HUF 3500

3 August 2017, 8.30 pm (rain date: 4 August, 8.30 pm) - Sabbathsong Klezmer Band

With: Nándor Beke Farkas on violin and the Kossuth Prize-laureate Oszkár Ökrös, the Paganini of the cimbalom.

More Than Klezmer – Klezmer & Gypsy Musicians

Besides traditional Eastern European klezmer music, the programme includes Hebrew and Yiddish songs, extracts from musicals, world hits, even Russian Jewish and Gypsy songs. It masterfully creates, deepens and transmits a wide range of moods in perfect harmony.

Ticket price: HUF 3500

8 August 2017, 10.00 pm (rain day: 9 August, 10.00 pm) - Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra

Artistic director: Péter Kováts

With: Péter Kováts and Ágota Bendik (violin)

Night in the park

Beethoven: Contradances
Bach: Concerto in D minor for two violins and orchestra BWV 1043
Brahms: Liebeslieder waltzes Op. 52a
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake – Hungarian dance, Spanish dance
Nino Rota: Scherzo from the Concerto
Piazzolla: Four Seasons in Buenos Aires – Summer
Strauss: Éljen a Magyar! Op. 332

In view of the late start, the concert will be held without an interval!
Ticket price: HUF 5500

14 August 2017, 8.30 (rain day: 15 August, 8.30 pm) - Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra

Artistic director: József Lendvai Csócsi

Rossini: William Tell – overture
Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5
Erkel: Palotás
Monti: Csárdás
Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs)
Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 1
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14
***
J. Strauss: Die Fledermaus overture
J. Strauss: Éljen a magyar!
Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers
Bizet: Carmen
J. Strauss: Radetczky March
Ticket price: HUF 350017

17 August 2017, 8.30 pm (rain day: 18 August, 8.30 pm) - Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra

With: Miklós Szenthelyi (violin) and friends
Concertmaster: Román Oszecsinszki

Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings Op.48.

Earlier:

3 July 2017, 8.30 pm (rain date: 4 July, 8.30 pm) - King Saint Stephen Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Kálmán Záborszky
Zugló Philharmonia – King Saint Stephen Symphony Orchestra and Oratorio Chorus,
children’s choir of the Liszt Ferenc Primary Music School, choirmaster: Katalin Kovács
Zita Szemere – soprano
Donát Varga – tenor
Zsolt Haja – bass

Orff: Carmina Burana

Ticket price: HUF 3500

6 July 2017, 8.30 pm (rain date: 7 July, 8.30 pm) - MÁV Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Tamás Gál
With: Vilmos Szabadi (violin)

Beethoven Evening

Beethoven: Fidelio – overture
Beethoven: Violin concerto in D major Op. 61
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major Op. 92

Ticket price: HUF 3500

10 July 2017, 8.30 pm (rain date: 11 July, 8.30 pm) - MÁV Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Imre Kollár
With: Ingrid Kertesi (voice)

Gala Evening

Verdi: La forza del destino – overture
Verdi: Sicilian Vespers – Elena’s area
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina – Dawn over the Moscow River
Bellini: La Sonnambula – Amina’s aria
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana – Intermezzo
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmilla – overture

Rossini: La gazza ladra – overture
Puccini: Gianni Schicchi – Lauretta’s aria
Bizet: Carmen suite No. 1
Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the flowers
Arditi: Il Bacio

Ticket price: HUF 3500

Source: Vajdahunyad Summer Festival