Izmir Festival > Program > Opening Concert Turkish – Hungarian 100th Anniversary Friendship Concert FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Opening Concert
Friday, 7 June 2024 • AASSM Grand Hall • 21.00
Turkish – Hungarian 100th Anniversary Friendship Concert
FRANZ LISZT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
István Várdai, conductor
Gülsin Onay, piano
Béla Bartók
Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K 414
INTERVAL
Franz Liszt
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Ulvi Cemal Erkin
String Quartet
(Arr. Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra)
David Popper
Hungarian Rhapsody, op. 68
Leó Weiner
Divertimento No. 1, op. 20
Duration: 100’ (w/ interval)
ABOUT THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra has been a permanent performer of the classical music scene’s international elite for 60 years; thus, they are rightly known as one of the most prestigious representatives of chamber music. The orchestra has been led by Péter Tfirst since 2016, and year after year, they perform in the most significant concert halls with first-class soloists, who delight in working with the ensemble due to their high degree of precision, versatility, and adaptability.
The orchestra was founded in 1963 by former Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music students. During this half a century – under the leadership of Frigyes Sándor and subsequently János Rolla – the orchestra has gained international recognition: they have performed in more than fifty countries, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Sydney Opera House, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Théatre de la Ville in Paris.
SUCCESSES OF RECENT YEARS
Recent years have senn the group flourish with outstanding concerts, performing at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, Musikverein in Vienna, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Carnegie Hall in New York and at Heydar Aliyev in Baku. They also played at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. The ensemble have visited the world-famous National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and were invited to one of the most prestigious festivals in Asia: the China - Shanghai International Arts Festival.
The orchestra opened the Liszt Year 2011 and the Hungarian EU presidency at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, where the concert was attended by Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, and his wife Sofia. Besides the highly acclaimed German and Italian tours, they also gave a series of concerts in South America in 2013 and Japan in 2014.
To name a few of the great stars of the past, the orchestra has collaborated with Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern,Yehudi Menuhin and Jean-Pierre Rampal, and in recent years, with such celebrities as Martha Argerich, Julia Fischer, Vadim Repin, Emmanuel Pahud, Vadim Gluzman, Denis Matsuev, Mischa Maisky, Maxim Vengerov, Ilya Gringolts, David Fray, Denis Bouriakov and Martin Fröst. Among the renowned Hungarian star soloists, we see the names of Júlia Pusker, Gábor Boldoczki, Ödön Rácz, Emőke Baráth, Kristóf Baráti and Gábor Takács-Nagy.
In 2016, Deutsche Grammophon released their album as a joint venture with Ödön Rácz, receiving unanimous commendation by the music critics.
ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP
Since 2016 the orchestra has been led by concertmaster Péter Tfirst, and the ensemble continues to perform both at home and around the world with the usual high level of artistic interpretation and the unique Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra timbre. At the beginning of 2020, both in Hungary and abroad, the news spread that István Várdai, the world-famous cellist was joining the orchestra as Artistic Director to create a new artistic concept and to enhance its professional development.
The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra is proud to be a national orchestra of Hungary and to represent and promote Hungarian culture throughout the world.
ISTVÁN VÁRDAI, artistic director
István Várdai is highly regarded for his joyous energy, rhythmic vigour and elegant grace in his soulful renditions of solo, chamber music and orchestral repertoire for cello. In his third season as Artistic Director of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, he continues to present inspiring and creative programmes. Alongside this, István welcomes world-renowned musicians at the Kapostfest Chamber Music Festival in Hungary, which he co-curates with violinist Kristóf Baráti, and continues his soloist career with leading orchestras performing repertoire from Bach to Péter Eötvös.
In 2023/24 István Várdai returns to the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for concerts in Helsinki and on tour in Amsterdam, as well as to Bournemouth and the BBC symphony orchestras in the UK. Debut highlights include SWR under Patrick Hahn with Bloch’s Schelomo. Past season’s highlights include dates with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under Modestas Pitrėnas, Orchestre National du Capitole Toulouse under Domingo Hindoyan, the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava under Lawrence Foster, as well as the Liechstenstein Symphony Orchestra and Prague Philharmonia.
István Várdai and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra welcome Andreas and Daniel Ottensamer, Sunwook Kim and Leticia Moreno in Budapest for FLCO’s series at the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy. International tours take them to Romania for the Enescu Festival and to Slovenia with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Swtizerland, Germany, Spain, Chile, Brazil and Turkey.
Istvan Vardai will conduct the orchestra in a variety of programmes from Ligeti to Beethoven piano concertos. As a passionate chamber musician, István Várdai has played with Vikingur Olaffson, András Schiff, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Mischa Maisky, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Liza Ferschtman at some of the world’s leading venues. Istvan Vardai, Alexei Volodin and Eldbjørg Hemsing team up for trio concerts including dates at the Heidelberg Spring Festival and Wigmore Hall in London.
Over the years, István Várdai’s has recorded Janáček, Prokofiev and Elgar’s cello concertos for Ysaÿe Records, pieces by Mendelssohn, Martinů, Paganini, Beethoven and Popper on the Hännsler label, Tchaïkovsky’s Rococo Variations in both versions and Bach’s solo cello suites for Brilliant Classics, Singing Cello and Dancing Cello on the Hungaroton label that features famous encores and a compilation of popular cello pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Following success on the competition circuit, including first prizes at the 2014 ARD International Music Competition and at the 2008 Geneva International Music Competition, István Várdai served on the jury of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019. He has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where he succeeded the late Heinrich Schiff in the role, and where he himself studied in 2005. István Várdai plays on the ‘Ex du Pré-Harrell’ Stradivarius which was made in 1673, previously played by Jacqueline du Pré.
Gülsin ONAY, piyano
Gülsin Onay began playing the piano at the age of three, and gave her first public recital on Turkish Radio when she was six. With the aid of a special state scholarship she studied with Ahmed Adnan Saygun and Mithat Fenmen, and then in Paris, where her teachers included Pierre Sancan, Monique Haas and Nadia Boulanger. She graduated from the Paris
Conservatoire at the age of 16, winning the prestigious “Premier Prix du Piano”, and prizes in top international competitions, including the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud (in Paris) quickly followed by the Ferruccio Busoni (in Bolzano).
Gülsin Onay’s subsequent and truly international career has spanned 80 countries across all continents, from Venezuela to Japan. She has given concerts in the major musical centres of the world such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Washington DC National Gallery of Art and the New York Miller Theater. She has performed as a soloist with such leading orchestras as Dresden Staatskapelle, Philharmonia Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic, Munich Radio Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony Orchestras. Conductors with whom she has performed include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Erich Bergel, Michael Boder, Andrey Boreyko, Jorg Faerber, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Edward Gardner, Neeme Jarvi, Emmanuel Krivine, Ingo Metzmacher, Esa- Pekka Salonen, Jose Serebrier, Vassily Sinaisky, Stanislaw Wislocki and Lothar Zagrosek.
Gülsin Onay’s many festival appearances include Berlin, Warsaw, Granada, Mozartfest Würzburg, Newport, Schleswig-Holstein, Singapore, Ohrid, Azores and Istanbul. Chamber music artists she has played with include Antonio Meneses, Kirill Troussov, Maxim Vengerov, and the Endellion Quartet.
Acknowledged worldwide for her definitive interpretations of the music of Ahmed
Adnan Saygun, this leading Turkish composer of the 20th century dedicated his 2nd Piano Concerto to Gülsin Onay. Saygun’s works feature prominently in Onay’s concerts and recordings, and she has performed the premiere of this 2nd Piano Concerto both in Turkey and abroad.
Other contemporary composers who have dedicated works to Gülsin Onay include Hubert Stuppner, Denis Dufour, Jean-Louis Petit, Muhiddin Dürrüoğlu-Demiriz, Marc-André Hamelin and Bujor Hoinic.
Onay’s recorded albums to date number more than twenty, and illustrate the breadth of her repertoire as well as her powers of interpretation, with solo works and concertos ranging from Haydn and Mozart to the contemporary era. Her 2007 CD featuring live concert recordings of Tchaikovsky’s 1st and Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto has been acclaimed by critics and virtuosi alike. In 2008 CPO released her recording of both Saygun concertos, to widespread critical acclaim. For the 250 anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Gülsin Onay has recorded 2 CDs of the composer’s works. Her latest release, the piano concertos by Ulvi Cemal Erkin and Khachaturian, has received wide critical praise.
Many of Onay’s concerts have been broadcast on European radio and television, and in the USA on National Public Radio. During the 2020–2021 coronavirus pandemic, Gülsin Onay was a regular performer on social media, where her livestreamed concerts received several million views.
Gülsin holds the title of State Artist in her native Turkey, and she has been an official soloist for the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Ankara for many years.
She is “Artist in Residence” at Bilkent University in Ankara and holds honorary doctoral degrees from the Bosphorus University in Istanbul, and from Hacettepe University in Ankara. In 2007 she was honoured with the award of a State Medal by the Polish nation for her interpretation of the music of Chopin. In that same year, the “Sevda-Cenap And” Music Foundation awarded her its prestigious 2007 Honorary Award Gold Medal. Gülsin Onay was named “Pianist of the Year” in the 2011 Donizetti Classical Music Awards, and in 2014 she was awarded the Honorary Medal of the 42nd Istanbul Music Festival, and later Honorary Medal from the Bodrum Music Festival in 2018. Starting in 2015, the Turkish city of Tekirdağ, one of whose streets has been named after Gülsin Onay, has organised an annual concert series “Gülsin Onay Piano Days” in her honour.
Outside her professional performing career, Gülsin has tirelessly promoted classical music through her charitable activities, event organisation, teaching and broadcasting. Since 2003 she has been a “Goodwill Ambassador” for UNICEF, and regularly gives charity concerts to support and publicise their activities. She has been Artistic Advisor to the International Gümüşlük Classical Music Festival and Academy since its foundation in 2004. Gülsin takes a particularly interest in nurturing the development of young musicians, and has taught over 400 pupils. She is a regular contributor to radio and television arts programmes, and since 2017 she has hosted her own weekly programme “In the Studio with Gülsin Onay” on Turkish national radio.
