The opening event will be an open-air jazz photo exhibition on Day Zero, Friday, at Hunyadi Square.
THE Budapest Spring Festival (BTF) many world stars will perform in the program series, including Mario Biondi, Bill Evans & Vansband All Stars, Roberto Fonseca and Victor Wooten. Foreign and domestic musicians play together at several concerts.
40 percent of the performers are foreign, thanks to the cooperation of eight foreign cultural institutes. The Italian Institute will also be the venue: on May 14th, a traditional Sardinian singing group, Tenores di Bitti, will perform here, accompanied by saxophonist Enzo Favata.
There will be open-air concerts on Liszt Ferenc Square, Rákóczi Square and Bakáts Square, and the three free concerts in Városháza Park on International Jazz Day on April 30 from 5 p.m. stand out among the programs. The Norwegian Kjetil Mulelid Trio and the Czech Nikol Bóková Quartet will perform here, and there will be a gala concert from 8 p.m.
The focus of this year’s series of events is the 20th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to the EU. In connection with this, pianist Oláh Krisztián composed a new work entitled Ludus Europae, which will be premiered from April 30 to May 1 at dawn at the Merlin Theater. Classical and jazz musicians will play together at the Joyful Evening, a total of 27, as many member countries as the EU has.
Among the contributing artists will be Veronika Harcsa, Mihály Borbély, János Ávéd, jr. Kálmán Oláh, György Orbán, Dániel Serei or Gábor Subicz. At the same event, Örömóda will be performed by Klára Kolonits and the Sturcz Quartet, and Ferenc Snétberger and the international SUB.LAB.PRO formation will also take the stage.
The international stars of this year’s festival will perform at the Erkel Theater
Italian singer Mario Biondi will perform on April 27, American saxophonist Bill Evans and his band on May 7, Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca on May 13, and American bassist Victor Wooten and The Wooten Brothers will perform on the closing day, May 15.
Krisztián Oláh is the artistic curator of this year’s Jazzfest Budapest together with three other excellent Hungarian jazz musicians, saxophonist Mihály Borbély, dulcimer Miklós Lukács and percussionist Kornél Mogyoró.
In the Premier KultCafé, for example, the Balázs Elemér Quartet, the Italian duo of Gianluca Petrella and Pasquale Mirra, the Bacsó Kristóf Triad, Miklós Lukács, Connectrio, the Turkish Önder Focan Trio and the Brazilian Joao Camarero will perform. László Dés will take the stage at Jedermann’s István Baló Project concert on May 3rd, and at the Fonó Budai Music Hall, the Mester Dániel Trio (April 29th) with the addition of Kálmán Balogh (April 29th), the Dániel Szabó Quintet (May 3rd), and the Polish saxophonist , Intergeese performing with Robert Wypasek (May 13) is playing. At MagNet Ház, the László Attila Quintet will perform on May 6, Santa Diver and the North Macedonian cymbalist Ivan Curtian on May 9.
Trafó will also be a program venue, where two pianists and drummers, British Gary Husband (ex-Level 42) and Áron Tálas, will play together on May 9, supplemented by a performance by dancer Bea Egyed, and South Korean Sinnoi will play on May 10.
In Lumen, the British Trevor Watts Eternal Triangle will give a concert on May 15, in If Café the Gyárfás Trio will play together with the Italian guitarist Agostino Di Giorgio, in Eötvös10 on May 1, as part of the children’s day, those interested can hear Hungarian folk tales with the saxophone playing of Viktor Tóth, and Veronaki will also perform.
LocalBudapest Spring FestivalJazzfest BudapestjazzmusicProgrammes
