Liszt Academy Wind Ensemble Presented by Liszt Academy

In the 2023/24 academic year, the wind instrument students of the Liszt Academy have already demonstrated with two concerts that wind ensembles have far surpassed their traditional roles. No longer just serving as military bands or for adding color to fairs, they are now unique formations gracing concert halls. While last year they primarily performed transcriptions of classical works, their upcoming program will focus on contemporary music. The work Initiation by Bence Kutrik is a version for wind orchestra of an earlier chamber piece, Ritual. The title of the composition refers to an imaginary pagan ritual. Gyula Fekete’s tuba concerto, dedicated to Roland Szentpáli, aims to showcase not only the virtuosity of the tuba but also its diverse musical qualities. Szabolcs Mátyássy’s piece delves into the inherent bipolarity of music, highlighting the extreme diversity of musical forms. Each of its three movements offers a musical portrayal of human fate, reflecting on human life, underlying humanity, the external world, and often self-observation. Korean composer Da Eun Park won the Liszt Academy’s special prize at the 2024 International Wind Ensemble Composition Competition, and the winning composition will be performed in Hungary for the first time.