The musicians of the Budapest Festival Orchestra set out once again between 10 and 16 November to continue their mission and take classical music to people who do not have the opportunity to go to a classical music concert for financial, social or health reasons.

The BFO would like to give community concerts in as many venues outside Budapest as possible to enable local people to enjoy the magic of live music as well. This time the Festival Orchestra will give free concerts in ten nursing homes, three SOS children’s villages, three synagogues and three churches during its community week.

As a new highlight of the BFO community week, Cocoa Concerts will also be held in three Hungarian SOS children’s villages, in Battonya, Kőszeg and Kecskemét, for underprivileged children fostered without their biological parents. The mission of the SOS children’s villages is to provide shelter and give love to every foster child, and the Festival Orchestra wishes to contribute to this through music.

Music cures and reenergises people, which is particularly true for the elderly, and consequently the BFO’s chamber ensembles will play music in not five but ten elderly homes in November, from Budapest to Miskolc. Béla Nemes, a 90-year-old resident of the Old People’s Home of Veresegyház City Council, wrote about his experiences in June as follows: “I remember you as those who gave us a taste of the eternally wonderful Renaissance music. These melodies carry crystal clear music within them.”

After the three venues in the summer, the Festival Orchestra will visit three more abandoned synagogues: the synagogue concerts will be held in Szekszárd, Szolnok and Kisvárda. Countless synagogues became desolated in Hungary after the Holocaust.

The aim is to draw attention to Jewish heritage and familiarise local communities with the tolerance that was once prevalent throughout Hungary. At our synagogue concerts, Slomó Köves, head of the Unified Hungarian Israelite Community, will present the history of local Jewish communities and synagogues, and after the concert audiences will be invited to taste a Jewish delicacy.

The fourth pillar of our community week is church performances, during which the Festival Orchestra’s Baroque ensemble provides insight into the unique world of Bach’s music. Ecclesiastical music will be played on period instruments in an authentic environment in the Reformed Church of Leányfalu, the Evangelical Church of Buda Castle and the Catholic Church of Zsámbék.

Iván Fischer talks in his video blog about how important new concert forms and community concerts are.

Detailed programme:

Church performances

10 November (Monday), 7pm, Reformed Church of Leányfalu
11 November (Tuesday), 7pm, Evangelical Church of Buda Castle
13 November (Thursday), 7pm, Catholic Church of Zsámbék

Synagogue concerts

10 November (Monday), 6:30pm, Művészetek Háza (“House of Arts”, synagogue), Szekszárd
11 November (Tuesday), 6:30pm, Szolnok Gallery (synagogue), Szolnok
16 November (Sunday), 4pm, Rétköz Museum (synagogue), Kisvárda

Concerts in nursing homes

10 November (Monday), 4pm, Nursing Home of the Budapest Autonomous Orthodox Israelite Community, Budapest
11 November (Tuesday), 10am, Blessed Gisela Nursing Home, Biatorbágy
11 November (Tuesday), 2am, “Levendula” Old Age Home, Páty
11 November (Tuesday), 3pm, Joy of Life Retirement Home, Veszprém
11 November (Tuesday), 3:30pm, Saint Anne Nursing Home, Diósd
12 November (Wednesday), 10:30am, Autumn Sunbeam Nursing Home, Miskolc
13 November (Thursday), 10am, Vilmos Vázsonyi Nursing Home, Budapest
13 November (Thursday), 2pm, Nursing Home of Budapest City Council, Budapest
13 November (Thursday), 3pm, Kamaraerdő Nursing Home, Budapest
14 November (Friday), 3:30pm, Evangelical Church of Békásmegyer, Budapest

SOS children’s villages

12 November (Wednesday), 4pm, Kőszeg
14 November (Friday), 4pm, Battonya
16 November (Sunday), 3pm, Kecskemét

Source: Budapest Festival Orchestra