The 60-minute concert theatre performance of Bartók: In Motion invites you on a journey through time, in which Balázs Szokolay 'Dongó' plays folk wind instruments alongside eight singers of the Saint Ephrem Male Choir. Bartók's male choirs and the folk music that frames them form a narrative, taking us on an adventure to the stations and spiritual stages of a man's life: they reinforce the snapshots taken at milestones of awakening, meeting the fairer sex, struggles, reflections and death, and the folk music collected between the stations prompts us to think further.
Béla Bartók is deservedly one of the most famous Hungarian composers, who left an indelible mark on 20th century music history with his unique musical language. His works for piano and orchestra, as well as chamber music, have, however, been little known alongside his male choirs. Bartók composed only six of these works between 1903 and 1935, and to this day they have not found their rightful place in the repertoire of concert halls around the world, mainly because of their linguistic and extreme technical complexity. With the concert theatre performance Bartók: In Motion, the Saint Ephrem Male Choir aims to present these little-known masterpieces in an enjoyable and accessible way for the general public.
The piece is based on the concept of Tamás Bubnó, Liszt Prize-winning Artist of Merit, and was created by the Saint Ephrem Male Choir, in which movement is primarily used to visualise the solos and musical material, and this is sometimes combined with the presentation of the content of folk songs.
The performance was presented by the Saint Ephrem Male Choir on 25 March 2021, the 140th anniversary of Bartók's birth, in the Hungarian Heritage House, as part of an online broadcast. On 13 May 2022, the 20-year-old St Ephrem Male Choir and Balázs Szokolay “Dongó” will perform the Bartók: In Motion spectacle for the first time in front of a live audience.
With the participation of: Balázs Szokolay Dongó
St. Ephraim Men's Choir
Balázs Edgár
Bubnó Lőrinc
Bubnó Márk
Tamás Bubnó
Oláh Marcell
Papp Viktor
Peter Toth
Rácz Ambrus
Assistant director: Veres Borcsi
Sound: Mihály Kádár
Screening: Bubnó Lőrinc
Costume design: Schilling Colos
Photo: ODPictures Art Studio - Domonkos Orbán, Bálint Kertész
Staged by Tamás Bubnó
Producer: Bubnó Lőrinc
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Supporters:
Ministry of Human Resources, NKA