Gergely Ménesi & Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Presented by Liszt Academy

This concert offers a journey through the concerto repertoire, spanning from the Baroque era to the present day. The program opens with Vivaldi’s only concerto for two cellos, likely composed around 1720. In a departure from the conventions of his time, the first movement of the Concerto in G minor begins with the two solo cellos imitating one another, accompanied by continuo parts. Here, the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra will accompany György Lakatos, the university’s professor of bassoon, alongside his student András Benedek László. Next comes a work by János Viski, a 20th-century Hungarian composer and proud disciple of Zoltán Kodály, who once declared: “I am the standard-bearer of the Kodály school.” The program continues with Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Two Violins, an exemplary display of the composer’s polystylistic approach. With wit and imagination, Schnittke weaves in echoes of Mozart’s Symphony in G minor and Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony. The evening concludes with Zoltán Kovács’s Bassoon Concerto No. 2 (2014). This contemporary work brings the program full circle, its dialogue between harpsichord and bassoon subtly reflecting back on the program’s first concerto.