″As an institution with a national scope, it is our task to represent Hungarian music culture in the international cultural scene.″

The Viennese Musikverein is one of the main centres of European classical music, the epicentre of the Classical Period, where the Viennese masters are given a pivotal role in each PFZ concert. It was a unique moment last year when – as a Pécs-based orchestra – we interpreted the uttermost Viennese composer, Schubert's music to the Viennese audience. We are confident that Anton Bruckner and Richard Strauss on our repertoire will again garner success."  –  Zsolt Horváth, Director of the Pannon Philharmonic

 

 

Setting out to conquer the third capital

 

Today, the Pécs-based symphony orchestra is of central importance in the Hungarian music scene, reflected by its widespread international acclaim. The ensemble, which has also made an appearance in the Grand Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin, gave its second concert this season, which will be followed by four concert events in two future seasons. At the recitals led by chief conductor Tibor Bogányi, Hungarian guest artists will take to the stage, and the programmes will feature Hungarian and Finnish compositions.

It is the single non-Budapest-based orchestra in Hungary, running a greatly acclaimed subscription series in Müpa for fifteen years. Beyond professional excellence, the orchestra has made a successful attempt to prove that high musical quality does attract the audience, regardless of the performers' centre of origin. In recent years, the resident orchestra of the Kodály Centre in Pécs has taken to the stages of numerous prestigious European concert halls, from Zürich to the Viennese Konzerthaus and Berlin. These concerts, however, always took place within the framework of orchestra tours.

It is a true breakthrough in the history of Hungarian music that the Pécs-based orchestra had the opportunity to perform in the Grand Hall of the Musikverein on six occasions altogether, within the framework of the long-standing Musik der Meister series between October 2021 and June 2023. As the director of the series pointed out, the groundwork of the invitation was the orchestra’s reliably high standard and quality, which is of primary significance for the cultivated and musically indulged Viennese audience.

 

 

As the Director of the Pannon Philharmonic commented, “There are countless occasions for an orchestra renting a concert hall for publicity purposes just to be able to claim to have played there. With their astronomical prices, these halls limit the number of those who can afford to do it; yet it has been a common practice. The Pannon Philharmonic is proud to be invited to one of the longest-standing concert series of the Viennese classical music scene in the Musikverein, solely based upon its merits and reputation."

 

2024/2025 SECRET season

Musikverein 2024-25 / Musik der Meister, Wien

 

The Pannon Philharmonic in the Musikverein I

Sunday, 6 October 2024, 7.30 PM, Musikverein Vienna

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9

Tom Borrow – piano

Conducted by Gergely Kesselyák chief conductor

Two stern Viennese bachelors show their emotions at this concert. We can witness large-scale, military-like harshness but also quite intimate moments.

Beethoven's Piano Concerto in C minor conveys bitter, belligerent, and passionate emotions. In the 2nd movement, however, he gives up the fight for a short time: the soldier puts down his weapon to look slowly and deeply into the listener's eyes. One of the most significant enterprises of Bruckner's life was his Symphony No. 9. It was a composition he was still working on his dying day and could not finish. The piece conceals a particular duality. On the one hand, Bruckner takes farewell from life, but at the same time, he also leaves the question open: what comes after our earthly existence?

 

 

The Pannon Philharmonic in the Musikverein II

Saturday, 1 February 2025, 7.30 PM Musikverein Vienna

THURSDAY, 6 FEBRUARY 2025, 7 PM, KODÁLY CENTRE, CONCERT HALL

Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D major

Franz Schubert – Franz Liszt: Hungarian March (S. 363/4)

Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor

Conducted by Tibor Bogányi

Today, we could ask artificial intelligence to write a Haydn symphony with some of Schubert's motifs, Hungarian music with Viennese influence or Beethoven's Symphony No. 10.

Fortunately, in the past, it was done by actual people, and independent works were created instead of clones. Haydn influence is unquestionable in Schubert's first symphonies. At the same time, Schubert's unique, song-like approach can already be perceived too. In the Hungarian March orchestrated by Liszt, we can hear what Hungarian music sounded like from Vienna. Brahms, in his turn, created his Symphony No. 1 with great meticulousness. Still, it was seen as Beethoven's tenth symphony. If we look closely, however, the work bears Brahms' unique style as much as it follows Beethoven.

 

 

 

2023/2024 PRESENT season

 Musikverein 2023 / Musik der Meister, Wien

 

05 NOVEMBER 2023, SUNDAY 7.30 PM

MUSIKVEREIN, WIEN (AUSTRIA)

Johannes Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
Béla Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”)

Kristóf Baráti – violin

Conducted by: Tibor Bogányi

  

 

 

 

2022/2023 REFRAIN season

 

Pécs Shake in Vienna - Musik der Meister Series

19 NOVEMBER 2022, SATURDAY 7.30 PM

MUSIKVEREIN, WIEN (AUSTRIA)

Richard Strauss: Oboe Concerto
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 3
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Cosi fan tutte K.588 – Overture

Clara Dent-Bogányi – oboe

Conducted by: Tibor Bogányi

For more information and ticket purchase, please click HERE.

 

MUSIK DER MEISTER

The Pécs-based symphony orchestra is one of the leading symphony orchestras in Hungary, given credit by countless international accolades. The first Vienna concert of the ensemble – which has performed even in the Grand Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie – is followed by another still in this season, and then again, two concerts per season in three subsequent seasons. The concerts conducted by chief conductor Tibor Bogányi will feature Hungarian guest artists as well as Hungarian and Finnish compositions.

The Budapest presence and former international tours of the resident orchestra of the Kodály Centre have proved that the ensemble with the epithet "national" is indeed an ambassador of Hungarian culture. An invitation to the Musikverein in the capital of music to give a concert series can be considered the international recognition of the national acknowledgement. The programme played on 31 October also reflected the international embeddedness of the orchestra and its chief conductor. The ensemble performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music, Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs, followed by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 7 and finally, Les Préludes by the Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt born 210 years ago. 

As PFZ’s chief conductor put it, "It is the childhood dream of all classical music performers to take to the stage of the Golden Hall one day. It is a privilege to be there, on the conductor's podium of this hall. Personally, I have been invited to conduct four concerts, and it is a special honour for me to do so with my own orchestra, the Pannon Philharmonic, twice a season. As the fruit of our joint efforts, we have become worthy of giving joy to the Viennese audience with our music."

 

 

  19 november 2022

 

Pécs coming to Vienna taking some originally viennese music with them

Pannon Philharmonic playing the works of Austrian composers in the Golden Hall of the Viennese Musikverein

On Saturday, 19 November, at the next of the Musik der Meister series, the Pannon Philharmonic will took pieces written by Mozart, Richard Strauss and Bruckner from Pécs to Vienna. The Austrian-born Clara Dent-Bogányi plays the solo oboe in Strauss’ Oboe  Concerto. With the seemingly astonishing programme choice, chief conductor Tibor Bogányi and the orchestra wished to convey the message to Hungarian music lovers that no matter where we live and work, classical music is our shared cultural treasure; it is a lingua franca that helps pull down borders and abolish prejudices. The unique tone or ″dialect″ added extra colour to this universal language in Vienna.

At the November concert, Mozart’s Così fan Tutte overture is followed by Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto. Although it cannot be directly linked to Vienna, as a late Strauss work, it was greatly inspired by the melodiousness of the Viennese Classical masters. It is a curiosity of the composition that the original idea came during the American occupation from an American corporal, himself an oboist in civilian life. During his stay in Germany, he made several visits to the elderly Strauss, and even though the composer clearly turned down the idea of a potential oboe concerto, he did write it in the end. The concert concludes with the great Romantic Viennese composer Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 3, a tribute to Wagner, and through that, it showcases plainly what Vienna represents in the world of music: the meeting point of great cultures and great masters, the steady stage of music history, a lighthouse in German musical culture and an absolute cornerstone in the universal history of music.

As Clara Dent-Bogányi, the night's soloist, commented, ″The Viennese Musikverein is one of the most famous concert halls in the world, so it is always a great honour to play here. The acoustics of the hall is wonderful. I also must add that I am Austrian myself, so performing here is a homecoming. Making music in Austria is always an exceptional experience for me, as it is my home country. I think that so many musicians in the same family and taking to the stage alongside Tibor are absolutely unique things. It is simply marvellous!″ The exceptionally talented artist is also an excellent music educator, giving international masterclasses; she has also developed her own oboe, the CD Model, a name consisting of her own initials.

 

The concert in Vienna also inspired Hungarian music lovers: The orchestra’s travel partner, the Kaposvár office of OTP Travel – more specifically, Enikő Braun and her colleagues – came up with the idea of a musical-cultural trip combined with a museum and concert visit for the weekend. The participants of the trip could visit Franz Liszt’s birthplace in Doborján (Raiding) and the exhibition of the Viennese Haus der Musik.

This way, more than fifty music lovers followed the ensemble to Vienna, and the applause of our Pécs fans also escalated PFZ’s success in the Musikverein.

 

 

Dear readers, dear audience,

It is obviously impossible to describe the story of this tour (which was a genuine ″cul-tour″ with lots of musical and music historical elements), but we will try to convey its atmosphere, anyway. One of the staff of the Pannon Philharmonic travelled alongside the group of music lovers and, took some photos on the journey, chatted with the participants, and this is how she compiled this somewhat subjective travellog. The Kaposvár office of OTP Travel had organised a trip rich in culture. Clearly, the 2-day length of the trip confronted us with a strict time limit, as one could easily spend an entire day only in the House of Music alone. Those, however, who don’t know Vienna or at least not this aspect of the city, could get an all-around view of it, so they can decide whether they will return to Vienna in an organised package trip or in a self-organised way for a more thorough sightseeing tour.

We are very grateful for the marvellous organisation, the collaboration and the plenty of feedback from the audience and participants. We sincerely hope that the reputation of this musical and cultural tour will reach many who will then feel like joining us next time. Any age group will find something to enjoy in the activities and events we were lucky enough to relish.

So, let's move on to the story of our musical ″cul-tour″. We have attached a link to some sites and venues, guiding readers by a single click.

 

PROGRAMME

• Day 1

Departure: Pécs – Szigetvár – Kaposvár / Doborján – Liszt Centre, concert hall, a walk in the village / Vienna – sightseeing by bus, some free time in the city centre / Bad Vöslau – hotel (early dinner)/ evening:  Musikverein – concert by the  Pannon Philharmonic  / Bad Vöslau – sleep

• Day 2

Sightseeing tour by bus in the city centre of Vienna / morning: Schubert’s birthplace. Guide: concert violinist, art and culture guide and ingenious presenter Christian Buchner / the memorial plaque of the Augarten Porcelain Manufactory (1718), walk past the Liechtenstein City Palace.

– a guided walk in the city: Maria Theresien Platz, Museum of Natural History  a Museum of Art History, Maria Theresa’s statue, Christmas Market, the Ring, Heroes' Gate, Heroes' Square, Hofburg: Neue Hofburg (and inside: the National Library), Amalienburg (3 hours), Schweizerhof, Michaelertrakt,

Michaelerplatz (Roman villa, Haydn’s apartment), Demel Hofzuckerbäckerei (Royal Confectionary) at the Kohlmarkt, Graben, Saint Peter’s Church, Plague Column (with a Hungarian coat-of-arms), Stephansdom, Stock im Eisen, Kärtner Strasse, Neuer Markt: Donner Fountain and the Chapuchin Crypt of the House of Habsburg

Albertina, Burggarten with the Palm House and Emperor Franz Joseph I and Mozart’s statues. From there, we went on to the Haus der Musik, stopping by the Opera. We spent about two and a half hours in the Haus der Musik, and we set off at 5 pm back to Hungary.

 

 

 

The group of (extremely kind) music lovers, as we – for simplicity's sake – call the participants of the musical trip organised jointly by the Kaposvár Office of OTP Travel and the Pannon Philharmonic, is just about to have an early dinner in Bad Vöslau before the PFZ concert in the evening.

Earlier in the day, we paid tribute to Liszt’s memory in Doborján (Raiding), and then, with the help of a bit of snow (and quite a cold), we immediately got into an Advent mood at the Christkindlmarkt in Vienna, following a brief sightseeing tour on the bus in Vienna’s city centre.

Everyone is busy getting ready for the orchestra’s evening concert and to enjoy the atmosphere of the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.

We unanimously voted for a brief dinner and some make-up time so that we'd have enough time in the Musikverein.

Continuation follows.

The complete photo album can be reached by  CLICKING HERE 

 

 

 

It was a genuinely uplifting experience to play on the stage of the Musikverein again and to steal some Pécs-Shake into the hearts of the audience clothed in Advent lights– Thank you for the seemingly infinite applause and loving smiles!

We have a long day behind us. Still, the orchestra returns to Hungary with recharged batteries, so there is little need for a long chill: we rest briefly, and then we'll start preparing for the concerts of the coming weeks.

We are looking forward to our next encounter, and until then, please enjoy these photos of this marvellous evening taken with lots of love.

 

 

Thank you so much for the interest you take in us. Please bear with us until you can shortly see the detailed travellog of our musical journey in Vienna with lots of photos.

The various step counters have failed to do their job :-)

The group took 27533 photos altogether.

We started the day in the museum in Schubert's Birthplace, where a musician's spellbinding and capturing guided tour brought us much closer to the composer's genius as if we knew him personally.

Seeing Schubert's own glasses, one of his hallmarks, was quite an intense feeling. (as was the Lacrimosa movement from Mozart’s Requiem in The Haus der Musik: goosebumps))

It is impossible to list all the sights we saw in Vienna in this brief log, but on our website, we will evoke and recommend the best ones.

One could easily spend days in the House of Music (Haus der Musik), but as a teaser, we found even these couple of hours very inspiring.

Continuation follows as the memory of one of the most enjoyable moments is yet to come.

And now the photos!

 

 

As the saying goes: Now the icing on the cake!

Nearly fifty music and travel lovers joined us on the musical-cultural journey jointly organised by the Kaposvár office of  OTP Travel and the Pannon Philharmonic. The climax of the programme was clearly the orchestra’s concert in the prominent Golden Hall. Many of our participants longed to come to his hall because of the New Year’s Concerts aired on TV brought to their homes. And now: a dream has come true with the icing on the cake: the music was interpreted by their very own home orchestra.

Our little group has arrived at the Musikverein.

Chief conductor of the Pannon Philharmonic Tibor Bogányi, welcomed the travellers.

 

Following the concert, chief conductor Tibor Bogányi came up to us and welcomed the group. A few photos were taken of this encounter as a souvenir. Thank you, maestro! These photos will certainly find their way into the Scrap Book of the orchestra. While watching the 2023 New Year’s Concert streamed from Vienna, we'll find it exciting to see where we were sitting in the famous concert hall, We are confident that there will be similar events in the future, and we will be able to combine the miracles of travelling with some important milestones of music history and concerts.

Until then, though, you are most welcome to listen to our beautiful concerts in Müpa Budapest or at the Kodály Centre in Pécs! 

 

Guided tour:

Our tour guide was Éva Buzási, a highly experienced guide, academic, librarian, and researcher with an incredible sense of humour and knowledge, social skills and a marvellous sense of rhythm in sightseeing. She has known the majority of the group for many years, so she would take personal interests and characteristics into account. We used headphones and high-end technical equipment during the tour.

46 participants

Most of the travellers were clients of the Kaposvár office of OTP Travel from the city of Kaposvár and the surrounding region. Some participants came from Baja, who have been long-established subscription-holders with the Pannon Philharmonic. Some members of the group were from Budapest (also subscription-holders). They came to Vienna by train and joined us on the bus.

The orchestra’s family members, audience and the members of the orchestra could track the journey on the Facebook and  Instagram pages of the Pannon Philharmonic.

 

 

The Budapest presence and former international tours of the resident orchestra of the Kodály Centre have proved that the ensemble with the epithet "national" is indeed an ambassador of Hungarian culture. An invitation to the Musikverein in the capital of music to give a concert series can be considered international recognition of the national acknowledgment. The programme played on 31 October also reflected the international embeddedness of the orchestra and its chief conductor. The ensemble performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music, Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs, followed by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 7, and finally, Les Préludes by the Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt born 210 years ago.

As PFZ’s chief conductor put it, "It is the childhood dream of all classical music performers to take to the stage of the Golden Hall one day. It is a privilege to be there, on the conductor's podium of this hall. Personally, I have been invited to conduct four concerts, and it is a special honour for me to do so with my own orchestra, the Pannon Philharmonic, twice a season. As the fruit of our joint efforts, we have become worthy of giving joy to the Viennese audience with our music."

The October concert was followed by another on 22 May within the framework of the 2021/2022 season, when the audience of the music capital had the chance to take delight in the performance of chief conductor Tibor Bogányi and the worldwide celebrated Pécs-born cellist and professor of the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, István Várdai.

 

 

 CONCERT 

22 may 2022

 

capital city – country town back and forth

210-year return journey

 

The Pannon Philharmonic, deeply committed to high-quality musical culture, is currently the only Hungarian ensemble with regular performances within a subscription series of the Musikverein in Vienna. The Pécs-based national orchestra has never feared international challenges:

The ensemble ″from the country″ with a successful and long-established (nearly two decades) subscription series in Müpa performed Vivaldi, Schumann and Schubert’s works to the justifiably demanding Viennese audience under the baton of Tibor Bogányi. The orchestra’s soloist was the internationally celebrated cellist István Várdai, also born and starting his career in Pécs. Today, he holds a teaching position at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. The resident orchestra of Kodály Centre – a concert hall proclaimed to have world-class acoustics by the performers playing in it – was founded by a recognised Viennese composer, Georg Lickl. Not only did he bring the European ethos to the then small-town in the South-West of Hungary, but he also planted the expectation of an international musical attitude into the hearts of the musicians, regardless of time. The May concert in the Musikverein is a kind of return to the roots, where the distance between the Hungarian countryside and the Austrian capital famous for its international vibe fades away, and all that remains is the classical music of the highest quality.

Lickl set to work as a musician, Mozart’s contemporary and Haydn’s student and a celebrated composer in Vienna. He settled in Pécs in 1807. Pécs's music scene made serious progress as a fruit of his efforts. He would hire musicians from Vienna and soon established one of the best orchestras in Hungary. The musical vibe obviously involved an incredible intellectual, social and economic boom as well, and it became a natural course of things that whatever was played ″up″ in Vienna would soon be played, spread and discussed in Pécs as well. Today, we can travel conveniently and comfortably on the  Budapest-Pécs-Vienna axis; and high-end cultural content or events are within easy reach. The Pécs-based orchestra encourages the establishment of a musical bridge between the geographical distance, so they are planning to organise a musical sightseeing tour by bus linked to the November 2022 concert of the orchestra.

On 22 May 2022, the audience of the musical capital of the world could relish the joint concert of chief conductor Tibor Bogányi and István Várdai, the Pécs-born and worldwide celebrated Liszt Award-winning cellist, professor of the String Department of the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.

Those attending the concert could hear music with cello solo and the gushing melodies so characteristic of the instrument. The city of Vienna played a pivotal part in the lives of all three composers featured. Antonio Vivaldi tried his luck in Vienna due to intrigues against him in Venice; Robert Schumann was inspired to create his own symphonic style by the Symphony in C major by the Viennese Schubert, while Schubert himself spent his entire life in Vienna. Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos captivates its listeners with its earworm sequences, Schumann’s concerto does the same with its passionate intimacy, while Schubert’s symphony captures us with its melodies of ″heavenly length″ – as Schumann put it. Tibor Bogányi, the night’s conductor, also acted as a soloist, getting thereby into even a stronger partnership with the cello soloist of the evening, István Várdai. The concert features popular, easily processable yet colourful works.

 

 

 

 the short film shot english subtitled on the premiere tour of the orchestra in vienna can be watched by clicking here.

 

 CONCERT 

31 OCTOBER 2021 7.30 PM

Guest Performance in the Musikverein Vienna

Musik der Meister series

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Masonic Funeral Music, K. 477
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Franz Liszt: Les Préludes

Tünde Szabóki – soprano

Conducted by: Tibor Bogányi

 

 

 

 

Vissza