On the occasion of the ANA launch we will present the book We Are Not Ducks on a Pond But Ships at Sea which will be introduced to the London audience by Rita Kálmán (IMPEX).
“This book endeavours to introduce the independent art scene of the past 20 years in Budapest as well as to provide assistance to interpret its relation to the economic and ‘ideological’ framework of the society.
The book offers a missing biography, providing reference for understanding the relationship
between the self-organized and the institutionalized, and the manifold ways in which these structures mutually shape one another. It is about projects set up on non-bureaucratic structures which emerge and are transformed along various schemes before disappearing. It is about sites, which elude self-definition and almost never leave behind any documented trace.” (Katarina Sevic)
Jessica Duchen, music journalist for The Independent and author of the novel Hungarian Dances, chairs an interview and discussion marking the 50th Anniversary of the death of Hungarian composer Mátyás Seiber (1905–60).
Jessica talks to two of Seiber’s former pupils, the well-known British composers Hugh Wood and Alan Gibbs. Seiber’s daughter, Julia Seiber Boyd, who chairs the Cambridge Szeged Society and Mátyás Seiber Trust will also be included in the panel. The evening celebrates Seiber’s work and life: from his studies with Kodály to his methods of teaching and analysis which made him the most revered teacher of composition in the UK.
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» MONDAY MUSIC SOIREES EXTRA
Wednesday, 7 April 2010 7.00pm
Hungarian Cultural Centre
Emese Mali and Ditta Rohmann concert
Emese Mali (piano) is one of the foremost young pianists in Hungary. She graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 2004, having studied
with Katalin Schweitzer, György Nádor, Balázs Réti, and Márta Gulyás. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at the Academy.
Ditta Rohmann (cello) is a doctoral student at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and since September 2009 she has held a teaching postition at the University of Debrecen. She has appeared as a soloist and a chamber musician
at festivals both in Hungary and abroad. Ditta has received diplomas with honours fromthe Academies in Budapest (with Miklós Perényi) and Basel (with Ivan Monighetti). She has also studied in Boston at the New England Conservatory with Suren Bagratuni.
Both Emese and Ditta were awarded the KLASSZ Musical Office’s scholarship in 2009.
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» In Praise of Older Women
Thursday, 8 April 2010 7.00pm
Hungarian Cultural Centre
Rosie Goldsmith in conversation with Stephen Vizinczey
The Hungarian Cultural Centre launches the newest edition of In Praise of Older Women which is back in print in the UK after 20 years. Stephen Vizinczey’s controversial worldwide bestseller for over 40 years is new to Penguin Modern Classics in 2010.
Growing up in war-torn Hungary, the narrator András Vajda, discovers that the charms of young girls are lost on him, and seeks out the embraces of older women. From his first disastrous encounter with the formidable Fräulein Mozart at a US army camp to his passion for Maya, a married woman, through to his turbulent affair with a reporter’s wife in Canada, he recounts how his amorous adventures with different middle-aged women have taught him about sex, love and the ways of the world.
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» HUNGARIAN JAZZ TUESDAY
Tuesday, 13 April 2010 7.30pm
Hungarian Cultural Centre
The Mátyás Gayer Anglo-Hungarian Trio
Mátyás Gayer is a sensational jazz pianist. He does not come from a musical background but became fascinated early on by the sounds of jazz and did his utmost to acquire as much of the art of playing it as he could from local teachers who were, admittedly, thin on the ground. In time he became a private pupil of Károly Binder, Head of Jazz at the world famous Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.
Audiences and musicians alike were dazzled not just by his technique but also by his startling originality. His was recently featured at the annual Jazz Showcase at the Budapest Palace of Arts. A talent scout for one of the record companies quietly remarked on hearing him: I don’t like to say things like that but this boy has it in him to become
a world star. This year he has been offered a scholarship to one of the most prestigious institutes of learning in jazzdom, the Berklee School of Music in Boston, USA.
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» Mátyás Seiber & his influences – 50 years on
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 7.00pm
Fitzwilliam College Chapel, Cambridge
A very special event to mark the 50th Anniversary year of Seiber’s death.
Three composers, all pupils of Seiber, will attend the event as will the poet, George Szirtes. Lesley-Jane Rogers (soprano), John Turner (recorder) & Janet Simpson (piano), perform Bartók “Aus Gyergyo”; Seiber “Pastorale”, “Greek Folk Songs”, “To Poetry” song cycle, Wood “Dream Song”, Gibbs “Fires of Pale Desire”, Frid “Transcripties” and the Janovicky – premiere piece set to a text by George Szirtes.
Lesley-Jane Rogers is the artist on the Seiber CD by Hungaroton (HCD 32405), and is described as “one of the most verstile soloist of today, renowned for captivating and evocative performances”.
John Turner's world – wide acclaimed solo performances have forced this instrument to be taken seriously; he played this piece at Dartington, as part of the 2005 centenary concert celebrations.
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» Film Club - Paper Planes (Papírrepülők)
Thursday, 15 April 2010 7.00pm
Hungarian Cultural Centre
The film of Simon Szabó is about young people in their teens and twenties. They look for ways out of trouble, though sometimes what they find is the way that leads to it.
A true urban story from a different perspective. Sára is in love with Márk. They are going to have a baby. Márk is in love with Sára – in his own way. Márk is also in love with Sophie. Sophie is also in love with Márk. But she doesn't like to be lied to, she prefers being pampered. And András enjoys pampering Sophie. But András also enjoys pampering his wife Rita. He enjoys pampering her and upsetting her just the same. Set in the streets of a bleak, gloomy Budapest, Paper Planes starts with panoramic views of the city before plunging into the lives of its young dwellers with their various desires and struggles – Zoli, an author with a severe case of writers block, Andris and Roland, two DJ friends in search of the perfect beat, Titi, the secretly lesbian cashier with designer dreams, and a bunch of teenagers experimenting with drugs and unconditional sex.
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» POETRY IN TRANSLATION
Wednesday, 21 April 2010 7.30pm
The Poetry Cafe
Betterton Street, London WC2
George Szirtes will present“poems offoreignness and belonging”from his ownwork and that of other Hungarian poets.
George Szirtes was born in Budapest, in 1948. His family came to England as refugees in following the revolution of 1956. He studied sciences at school, went to art college for five years, practiced as a painter, and has been publishing books since 1979. He has written some fourteen books of poetry that have won the Faber Memorial Prize, the T. S.Eliot Prize, the Cholmondeley Award and been short-listed for others. His many translations from Hungarian poetry and fiction have won various international prizes. He has edited anthologies of English language writing as well as of Hungarian literature in translation and reviewed books in various national newspapers.
Of his New and Collected Poems (2008), The Independent said, "this grand gathering of his poems shows – in more than 500 beguiling pages – just how tall he stands and how far he sees." and his latest book, The Burning of the Books and Other Poems (2009) was praised as the work of 'a European visionary and multi-disciplinary sensibility straddling time and dimension restrictions'.
He has worked with artists, composer and musicians over many years, writing several libretti, books for musicals, texts for oratorios, and straight plays. After years of teaching in schools and art colleges, he is currently teaching at the University of East Anglia. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982.
Tickets at door £5/£3 conc.
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» New Europe Film Festival
Saturday, 24 April 2010 8.45pm
Filmhouse Cinema
88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9BZ, Scotland
The Hungarian film I am Not Your Friend – I Will Not Be Your Friend by György Pálfi will be screened at the annual New Europe Film Festival in Edinburgh. The festival has been bringing the films from the new EU member states to the Edinburgh Filmhouse cinema since 2007. This year’s films come from the Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Croatia and Romania.
I am Not Your Friend – I Will Not Be Your Friend is an improvised film – not only did the amateur actors improvise, but the director, the cameraman and the scriptwriter have also responded minute by minute to the organic developments of the creative process over the short twenty days of shooting. This movie is not centred around the plot, but rather focuses on the world that it depicts: Budapest in January 2008 with characters that are by no means extraordinary, but recognisable, exciting in their every-day way and definitely lovable.
Film reviews are available on the festival website www.neweuropefilm.com. Tickets can be booked online at www.filmhousecinema.com. Ticket prices: Full price £6.50, concessions £4.90.
The Kraszna-Krausz Foundation was set up by Andor Kraszna-Krausz, the Hungarian born founder of Focal Press. Since 1985 the And/or Book Awards have been given out annually for books on photography and the moving image (including film, television and new media). The winning books have been those which make original and lasting educational, professional, historical and cultural contributions to the field.
During KK’s life (as he was familiarly known) he published 1,200 books on the camera arts all over the world, marketing an astonishing 50 million books.
A few years before his death he donated his valuable collection of books on photography and the audio-visual media to the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford. This year, joining the celebrations of the Foundations’ and the Awards’sary the Hungarian Cultural Centre will show the public a selection from the Bedford collection connected to Kraszna-Krausz and his productive and prolific life. This year the And/or award will be presented by István Szabó, acclaimed Hungarian director at the invitation only award ceremony hosted by the BFI Southbank .
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» East End Film Festival
Wednesday, 28 April 2010 6.00pm
Genesis Cinema
93-95 Mile End Road, White Chapel, London E1 4UJ
Lost Times (Utolsó idôk) by Áron Mátyássy
The East End Film Festival delivers 9 days of premieres, parties, live music, art and discussion across 16 different venues in the East End of London. The Festival showcases hot new talent and homegrown films alongside larger independent releases and special events, informing and inspiring a new generation of filmmakers. The Festival is continuing its championing of new eastern European cinema, and is excited to present Áron Mátyássy’s debut feature Lost Times at the festival this April.
1997, somewhere near the border in Eastern Hungary. This is where Iván, a car mechanic lives with his sister Eszter, who is a young woman with autism. Iván earns some extra money by smuggling diesel oil across the border. One day Eszter is raped by a stranger in the nearby forest. The police investigation leads nowhere and even becomes a burden for Iván. After the traumatic event Eszter carries on living her life as she used to but becomes mute, refusing to speak to anybody. Iván falls in love with Ilus, a girl from his village, who just finished her school leaving examination and will move to another town as she has gained admission to a university. Soon Iván finds himself alone. His plans seem to have failed and the police warn him to give up his oil smuggling. By this time Iván has stumbled across some revelations connected to Eszter’s rape, however, he has no intention of going back to the police but instead decides to take the law into his own hands.
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» East End Film Festival
Wednesday, 28 April 2010 6.00pm
BFI Southbank Belvedere Road, South Bank, London, SE1 8XT
Mephisto by István Szabó
Based on Klaus Mann’s roman à clef novel, István Szabó’s Oscar-winning film charts the indecent rise of an actor, Hendrik Höfgen, during the Nazi era in Germany. Finding favour with the National Socialists, Höfgen uses his political patronage to further his own career without heed to the real cost. The white faced Brandauer is magnificent as Höfgen and is perfectly matched by Rolf Hoppe as the Goebbels-like general with whom he strikes his Faustian bargain.
