8 July 2023
Saint Symphorien Church 10:00 14:00 15:00
JAZZ IMPROVISATION
Improvisation
Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos (piano) and Lajos Sárközi Jr (violin)
the music of Bach, Piazzolla, and Gardel
Johann Sebastian Bach, Aria de la suite en Ré
Astor Piazzolla, Oblivion
Astor Piazzolla, Escualo
Astor Piazzolla, Libertango
Carlos Gardel, Por una cabeza
The Geneva Chamber Orchestra
Beethoven: Symphony n° 9
Budapest Sound Collective (Hungary)
The Lausanne University Choir (Switzerland), Le Motet de Genève (Switzerland) (conductor: Fruzsina Szuromi)
Khrystyna Babchuk, soprano (Ukraine)
Margharyta Bilokiz, mezzo-soprano (Ukraine)
Denzil Delaere, tenor (Belgium)
Ádám Horváth, basse-baritone (Hungary)
Direction: Gergely Dubóczky
baroque music
Concerto de Jean-Christophe Naudot pour flûte piccolo
Concerto de Jean-Christophe Naudot pour musette
Concerto de Michel Blavet pour flûte
Ouverture de Jean-Marie Leclair pour 2 violons et basse continue
Les Ambassadeurs – La Grande Écurie (France)
Direction: Alexis Kossenko
Versailles Centre for Baroque Music
Salle des Fêtes 20:00
opera gala
Budapest Sound Collective
Direction: Gergely Dubóczky
Solists from Ukraine, Hungary, and Belgium
Khrystyna Babchuk, soprano (Ukraine)
Margharyta Bilokiz, mezzo-soprano (Ukraine)
Ádám Horváth, basse-baritone (Hongrie)
Denzil Delaere, tenor (Belgium)
8 July 2023
The Geneva Chamber Orchestra
Founded in 1992, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra has thirty-seven permanent musicians. Through its numerous artistic collaborations, the OCG is committed to the lively, contemporary dissemination of music. Its repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music, with a predominance of classical works. Each season, the orchestra gives around fifty concerts throughout French-speaking Switzerland and abroad, not counting school performances and specific educational programmes. It is regularly invited to perform at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Opéra de Lausanne, as part of the City of Geneva's concerts and the Geneva Competition. Raphaël Merlin has been appointed Artistic and Musical Director from the 2023-2024 season.
Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos
virtuoso jazz pianist, heir to a whole dynasty of musicians
Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos, son of the world-famous artist, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, studied music in Basel, Switzerland. In 2000, he won the first prize in the piano competition of the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 2005, he was elected best soloist at the International Jazz Festival in Avignon. Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos has performed with such masterful artists as Lewis Nash, Robert Hurst, Palle Danielsson, Erik Truffaz, Roby Lakatos, Greg Hutchinson, Roy Hargroove, John Zorn, Chris Potter, Randy Brecker, Bill Evans, Hiram Bullock, Ravi Coltrane, and the list goes on.
He has had a remarkable career in jazz. Jack DeJohnette, who was involved in the creation of Róbert's record, says the following about this exceptional artist : ’I think Róbert is one of the most talented pianists in the jazz world today’. Another colleague, John Patitucci, says: ‘He touches the piano in a very elaborate and poetic way’. Chick Corea says: ‘You are music itself. Please stay so miraculous and brilliant! You have a luminous soul’!
Lajos Sárközi Jr
violinist, first violin, performs on a special master instrument made by the Italian craftmaster, Nicolo Gagliano, in 1761.
Born in Budapest to a family of seven generations of musicians, he started learning the violin from his father at the age of five. That same year he began his studies at the Józsefváros Music School, and at the young age of 13 he was accepted into the special talents class at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. He won the Gábor Radics Hungarian Jazz Violin Competition, after which he released his solo album ‘I am Only Fifteen’, then he went on to receive the Junior Prima Prize, the György Cziffra Talent Prize, and, recently, the Ferenc Liszt Prize.
After mastering the basics of classical music, he has set himself the goal of cultivating the style of ‘gypsy music’ played in restaurants, which is considered a Hungaricum. His classical music education and the authenticity of his gypsy music performance, passed down from father to son, are both outstanding. He attaches great importance to mentoring the younger generation and is, therefore, a permanent teacher and master of the Heves County Rural Rajkó Orchestra. He strives to cultivate a centuries-old musical culture that is disappearing; with his current professional orchestra, he is a regular performer at the cultic Hundred Year Restaurant in Budapest. His aim is to promote gypsy music abroad and in Hungary as widely as possible, but he is also frequently invited to perform classical pieces. He has given two solo concerts with the Silicon Grace Walley Symphony Orchestra in California, judged an international improvisation violin competition, and is also part of the Hungarian classical music scene; performing in prestigious concerts in Hungary, including with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
The Lausanne University Choir
Founded in 1947, the Lausanne University Choir has since brought together members of the University of Lausanne and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, contributing to their cultural life and influence.
Each season, the ensemble studies a major work from the classical repertoire or a series of lesser-known opuses. In recent years under the direction of Fruzsina Szuromi, the Choir has turned its attention to classicism (Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mozart's Mass in C Minor), romanticism (Brahms' Requiem), baroque (Bach's Magnificat, Handel's Dixit Dominus), and modernism (Kodály's Missa brevis, Honegger's Le Roi David). The choristers have also had the opportunity to tackle the film music repertoire and immerse themselves in the world of opera by performing Bizet's Carmen.
The CHUL works with various musical groups in French-speaking Switzerland, including the OSUL, the Ensemble Baroque du Léman, the OSG, and the Sinfonietta. It performs mainly in Lausanne, but also, depending on the collaboration, elsewhere in French-speaking Switzerland (Victoria Hall or Stravinsky) and even internationally, since various exchanges have enabled it to perform abroad (United States, Canada, Hungary, Lithuania). Every year, the hundred or so registered members immerse themselves in a new programme from the start of the academic year, under the guidance of a team of professional musicians.
The Lausanne University Choir
Fruzsina Szuromi
She obtained her qualifications in choral conducting, teaching the Kodály method and piano accompaniment at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest and at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. She currently conducts the Chœur Universitaire de Lausanne (UNIL/EPFL), a large oratory choir, and two chamber choirs, the Ensemble Vocal Evohé at UNIL/EPFL and the Choeur des Professeurs du Conservatoire Populaire de Genève. It is within this same conservatory that she shares, with Magali Dami, the direction of the prestigious children's choir of the Maîtrise. From time to time, she performs with the Ensemble Vocal Buissonnier, a professional chamber choir, and she is in charge of the preparation of choral projects at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève, where she also undertakes vocal coaching as a pianist.
Through her various projects, Fruzsina has collaborated with numerous orchestras, such as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble Baroque du Léman, the Camerata Alma Viva, the Orchestre Niedermeyer, the EPFL Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestre Symphonique et Universitaire de Lausanne.
LE MOTET
The vocal ensemble 'le Motet' was founded in 1926 by Lydie Malan and today boasts some sixty singers, all amateurs of a high standard.
Since 2013, it has been conducted by Romain Mayor, who is the 7th conductor since the orchestra was founded 96 years ago. Its repertoire ranges from Baroque music to music of our time, with a preference for works composed between 1850 and 2000. It gives around two or three concerts a year, either with accompaniment (piano, orchestra) or a cappella. Occasionally, it collaborates with other cultural and musical players, such as the Geneva Chamber Orchestra and the Théâtre de Carouge. Under the aegis of the OSR, he took part in the Victoria Hall performances of The Lord of the Rings between 2015 and 2017. It also took part in improvisation work as part of the Archipel Festival in 2017. It was hired by the Grand Théâtre de Genève to complete the chorus in the opera ‘St. François d'Assise’ by Olivier Messiaen (performance unfortunately cancelled due to the health situation). Le Motet is a member of AGECO, the Geneva oratorio choir association.
LE MOTET
ROMAIN MAYOR
Choir and orchestra conductor, as a principal conductor he directs the Motet de Genève, the Chœur J.-S. Bach de Lausanne, the Chant Sacré Genève, and the Ensemble Post-Scriptum, which he founded.
Born in Switzerland in 1984, he began learning music at the age of six with the piano, then went on to study singing, conducting, and musicology; benefiting from the invaluable advice of musicians such as Celso Antunes, Laurent Gay, Florian Ziemen, Peter Broadbent, Florian Ludwig, Christian Immler, Frédéric Gindraux, and Helmut Deutsch. As a singing and conducting teacher, and head of the choral conducting certificate class in Lausanne, he is regularly invited to lead various courses and musical workshops, or to serve as a judge in a number of choral singing competitions and conservatories. He is also an organist in several parishes in the Lausanne region. Romain Mayor studied at the HEM in Geneva and Lausanne and at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern. He holds a piano certificate, the Fritz Bach Prize from the Crescendo Foundation, two specialist Master’s degrees in choral conducting and opera singing, and a postgraduate diploma in orchestral conducting.
He has conducted choirs and collaborated with various other ensembles; including the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestre de chambre de Genève, the Toshima Festival Orchestra, the G. Dream 21 (Japan), the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, the Ensemble Symphonique Neuchâtel, the Capriccio Barockorchester, and the Orchestre Symphonique Genevois. He has conducted a repertoire ranging from medieval to 21st-century music in Switzerland and abroad.
Budapest Sound Collective
The Budapest Sound Collective has been present on the Budapest music scene as a fresh, youthful force since 2013. Under the artistic direction of conductor Gergely Dubóczky, they perform contemporary and classical music with an experimental and avant-garde approach. Their take on the physical properties of music has culminated in a series of concerts entitled Elements, which has proved to be a truly multidisciplinary experience involving spatio-phonic experimentation and sensory immersion in the world of colour and music. Another project, Seven Last Words, is a truly contemporary interpretation of Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross (Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze) which, although traditionally performed as part of the Easter liturgy, has been, in this innovative approach, refined for the stage with texts written by Péter Esterházy, one of the giants of contemporary Hungarian literature.
Budapest Sound Collective
Gergely Dubóczky
He has worked with Zoltán Kocsis, Iván Fischer, Adam Fischer, and Péter Eötvös. He performs regularly on the Hungarian and international stages and leads outstanding performances of his own ensemble, the Budapest Sound Collective. Apart from performances of a more traditional repertoire, Gergely Dubóczky is also a committed advocate of baroque and contemporary music, creating contemporary works and frequently performing in theatre productions and opera performances.
After graduating in mathematics, he studied conducting at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, where he graduated summa cum laude. He also studied in New York State and Vienna. He has taken master classes with Péter Eötvös, Erwin Ortner, Sir Simon Rattle, Bertrand de Billy, and Daniel Harding, and worked at Bard College under Maestro Harold Farberman, Leon Botstein, and Lawrence Golan.
As a recent graduate, he became assistant conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra for two years with Zoltán Kocsis. Since 2009, he has been the artistic director and conductor of the Semmelweis University Medical Orchestra. He conducted the Budapest Festival Orchestra as the first conductor of Iván Fischer's Rising Stars series. In recent years, he has conducted almost all the major Hungarian orchestras, including the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Danubia Óbuda Orchestra, Szolnok Symphony Orchestra, Concerto Budapest, and Alba Regia Symphony Orchestra.
Margharyta Bilokiz
Ukrainian mezzo-soprano, Margharyta Bilokiz is from the village of Svitlohirske in the Poltava region and began her musical studies at the age of seven.
Khrystyna Babchuk
Denzil
delaere
The versatile Belgian tenor, Denzil Delaere, is equally at home in opera productions,
in concert with symphony orchestras, and in contemporary music
Accordion Content
He pursued his studies at both the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and the International Opera Academy (IOA) in Ghent. As soon as he graduated, Denzil Delaere joined the company of the Lucerne Opera (2016/2017 season). He sang Tamino (The Magic Flute), Borsa (Rigoletto), tenor solo in Prometeo (Nono), and in the Vespro della beata Virgine (Monteverdi), as well as Roberto in Maria Stuarda. He subsequently joined the solo ensemble of the Flanders Opera. The Lucerne Opera invited him back for the lead role of Roberto in Maria Stuarda. He was also invited by the Montpellier Opera to be Captain Ricardo in Chérubin (Massenet), by the Opéra Royal de Wallonie/Liège as Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Gervais in Auber’s Manon.
Denzil Delaere has appeared more and more frequently in concerts and as a soloist in major works by J.S. Bach (Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, Kaffeekantate, Missa Brevis in A major, St. Matthew Passion), G.F. Handel (Messiah), J. Haydn (Creation), and Mozart (Coronation Mass and Requiem) with various ensembles and orchestras.
Equally at home in the Lied repertoire, he has given numerous recitals with selections from Schubert, Brahms, Beethoven, Fauré, Poulenc, and Rachmaninov. Since his training at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, Denzil Delaere has developed a close relationship with contemporary music. In addition to his participation in the world premiere of Acubens (lead role), he has performed major works by Olivier Messiaen, Alban Berg, Wolfgang Rihm, Wim Hendrickx, and John Cage.
Adam Horvath
Bass-baritone, music producer, soloist, and former general director of the National Opera of Budapest.
At the University of Musical Arts in Graz, he studied with Prof. Ernst Dieter Suttheimer and Prof. Claudia Rüggebergg in the field of solo singing and opera. In 1995, he won first prize at the American International Music Studies (AIMS) singing competition in Graz. He studied in New York with Jerome Hines and at the Juilliard School with Marshall Williamson. Between 1997 and 1998, he studied singing at the Opera Department of the University of San José and performed on the stage of the San José Opera. Since 2019, he has been studying for his doctorate in Graz. In 2003, he graduated from the University of Musical Arts in Graz with a Master's degree with honours, and, in 2008, he completed his studies in singing and oratorio at the same university with honours.
Since 2000, he has been a guest artist in Austria, China, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and the United States, singing with world-renowned artists, such as László Polgár, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Andrea Rost, Michaela Kaune, Gyöngyi Lukács, Elena Mosuc, Alexandru Agache, and Daniil Shtoda. He has contributed to the creation of numerous CDs. In 2010, he was the General Director of the National Opera of Budapest, and, in 2012, he became the General Advisor of the Media Management Fund (MTVA). Between 2013 and 2014, he was the director of the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra, as well as the director of the Miskolc Cultural Centre.
CMBV: the Versailles Centre for Baroque Music
Les Ambassadeurs
− La Grande Écurie
The convergence of two musical groups with prestigious backgrounds.
The first group is the illustrious La Grande Écurie et La Chambre du Roy, founded in 1966 by Jean-Claude Malgoire, has left its mark on the history of music by opening up the stage to period instruments, inspiring so many musicians. The dean of specialised ensembles, this orchestra has traversed, questioned, and rediscovered six centuries of music, from Machaut to Debussy.
The other, Les Ambassadeurs, a young and dynamic ensemble created by Alexis Kossenko, already possesses a rich discography and has been noted for its eloquence in interpreting works by Bach, Purcell, Mozart, or Beethoven, and especially for its work on Rameau and the French Baroque.
CMBV: the Versailles Centre for Baroque Music: Les Ambassadeurs − La Grande Ecurie
Alexis Kossenko
An artist of rare eclecticism who leads a double and rich career as a conductor and solo flautist.
Musical director of the Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy, whose destiny he decided to unite with that of Les Ambassadeurs in order to draw up rich and ambitious musical projects, Alexis Kossenko is an internationally-recognised flautist and sought-after conductor. His experience in a particularly vast repertoire allows him to be at ease in both the symphonic and operatic repertoires.
As a connoisseur of all the historical forms of his instrument, he plays the modern flute (he graduated from the CNSM in Paris in Alain Marion's class and won the 2000 Rampal Competition) as well as the baroque, classical and romantic flutes, and the recorder. He became first flautist of La Chambre Philharmonique (dir. E. Krivine) and of the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées (dir. Ph. Herreweghe). He performs as a soloist with numerous orchestras and tours with Emmanuel Krivine, interpreting a repertoire ranging from Vivaldi to Khachaturian and Mozart concertos. As a conductor, he has been invited to lead many modern and early music ensembles: European Baroque Orchestra, B'Rock, Le Concert d'Astrée, Holland Baroque, Arte dei Suonatori, {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, Sinfonia Iuventus, Concerto Copenhagen, Ensemble Resonanz, Ensemble Arion, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, JOA, and Oldenburg Staadtstheaterorchestel.
