SYMPHONIC DISCOVERIES RUSSIAN MASTERS – BÉLA HORVÁTH AND THE GYŐR PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Bartók Béla National Concert Hall Shostakovich: Festive Overture, op. 96 Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35 Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake – suite Borodin: Polovtsian Dances Conductor: Kálmán Berkes “My dear boy, I can teach you how to keep time of one, two or even seven, but not how to greet the orchestra, even though that is what will determine how they play.” The young Kálmán Berkes often heard these words spoken by János Ferencsik, from whom he took private tuition in the craft of conducting. Known as one of Hungary’s leading clarinettists, Berkes has also been conducting for decades, and this is his main sphere of activity today. He recalls that playing the clarinet went well for him even without much practice, and that he became an instrumental artist after his exceptional achievements in competition pushed him in this direction. From the tender age of three, however, he longed to step up to the conductor’s podium, and so it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream when he finally took up the conductor’s baton at the age of 35 – albeit stepping in for someone else. (In his opinion, the young conductor’s lot is not a happy one.) Berkes has been artistic director of the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra since the spring of 2009, alongside which he also conducts the orchestras of the Musashino Academy in Japan and is constantly commuting between Tokyo, Budapest and Győr. He regularly invites exceptionally talented young musicians as guests to his concerts, on this occasion Béla Horváth. Born in 1982, Horváth is the first Hungarian violinist and violist to have graduated from the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Pinchas Zukerman. His substantial tuition fees were paid by a private sponsor, while he himself gained work as an assistant to Zukerman at the renowned institution. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, and has played with leading musicians, including György Pauk, Zakhar Bron, Ruggiero Ricci and Jaime Laredo.