Concert of the Eötvös Art Ensemble

Conductor László Kovács is artistic director of the Eötvös Loránd University Béla Bartók University Choir and University Orchestra. The university’s choir and orchestra are amateurs with membership comprising current and former university students and professors. Their repertoire encompasses Baroque, classical, Romantic and contemporary works, a cappella choral works, oratorios, concertos, symphonies, besides which they have no problem venturing to the fringes of pop and classical music. Among their programmes they have performed Orff’s Carmina Burana, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Verdi’s Requiem, all in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy. The ensemble have a preference for the works of contemporary, first and foremost Hungarian composers, who in turn have been commissioned by the university to write several orchestral and choral works, dedicating them to the ensemble and their conductors. The choir founded by Gábor Baross in 1948 and the orchestra established in 1957 and currently functioning as a string chamber orchestra have over the decades won prizes at numerous Hungarian and international competitions and festivals. They have released four CDs through Hungaroton; these trace the different phases of the ensemble’s progression and provide a platform for representatives of contemporary Hungarian classical music.