Rhoda Scott & Roby Lakatos & Lisztes Jenő & Radics Gigi

Rhoda Scott & Gigi Radics & Roby Lakatos & Jenő Lisztes 

 Masters & Pieces Vol.:2.

Budapest, Dohány Street Synagogue

 September 12, 2024, 8:00 PM

The magic continues!

We are thrilled to announce the continuation of the highly successful concert series 'Masters & Pieces VOL.:2.', and we warmly invite everyone to join us! This event promises to be truly special, featuring live performances by legendary artists such as Rhoda Scott, master of the Hammond organ, Roby Lakatos, creator of 'special Gypsy fusion music,' Jenő Lisztes, master of the enchanting play of the cimbalom, and this time, Radics Gigi, with her defining and emotionally expressive voice in Hungarian popular music.

The concert will take place within the framework of the 26th Jewish Cultural Festival, scheduled between September 8th and 16th, 2024.

The primary goal of the Jewish Cultural Festival is to become a significant factor in the cultural tourism of the capital, to play a significant role in the newly established tourist offering of the Budapest Jewish Quarter, and to contribute to its revitalization. Over the past years, the festival has rightfully become a recognized and prestigious event in the artistic life of the capital. The diverse program includes classical and contemporary music concerts, literary and children's programs with the participation of both domestic and international performers.

The Jewish Cultural Festival is not just one event among many, but a unique celebration of Hungarian and Jewish culture, providing an opportunity to promote and popularize the diverse and rich Hungarian Jewish and Jewish Hungarian cultures. It is a source of pride that Hungarian Jewish contemporary artistic life, which draws from the millennia-old Jewish tradition, is visibly flourishing in the 21st century.

The Jewish Cultural Festival is intended for those interested in various intellectual influences, the exceptionally rich Hungarian and universal Jewish culture, as well as for those interested in sacred spaces. It appeals to a social layer comprising both Jews and non-Jews who are open and receptive to the diversity of other religions and cultures. Its members understand and recognize that our shared culture is the golden asset from which one can and should build.

The detailed program of the 26th Jewish Cultural Festival will soon be available on the website www.zsidokulturalisfesztival.hu

Rhoda Scott

The globally acclaimed queen of the Hammond organ. Her passion for Hungarian music deepened through her research into the Kodály method and Béla Bartók's folk song collection. Known as the "Barefoot Contessa," she has been enchanting generations with her brilliance and refined musical talent for decades. A master of challenges, she sees continuous experimentation and free improvisation as the essence of music. She stands as one of the most authentic representatives of American gospel music. At a young age, she performed for the first time in a Harlem club, quickly revealing her exceptional ability to blend the world of spirituals with the freedom of jazz. In 1962, she founded her own trio and later earned a degree in music theory from the Manhattan School of Music. Her talent caught the attention of the renowned jazz musician Count Basie, who invited her to his Harlem club. Here, she met icons like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ray Charles. Her style was significantly influenced by the Parisian music educator Nadia Boulanger, who boasted illustrious students like Quincy Jones, Astor Piazzolla, and Michel Legrand. Since then, she has been performing with unwavering success on the world's grand stages.

Gigi Radics

Gigi Radics won one of Hungary's most significant talent competitions at the age of 15 in 2012, and since then, she has become one of the country's most popular female performers. Over the years, she has earned numerous gold and platinum records and has won several awards. She has also successfully performed on the international stage, including at the Montreux Jazz Festival and the Auditorium di Milano in Italy. Milestones in her career include the tremendous success of her song "Vadonatúj érzés"/"Daydream" on Hungarian radios in 2013. She excelled in the Hungarian X-Factor and participated in the world-famous Disney film. In 2022, she became the first to perform as a songwriter, penning her own songs. In 2023, she returned to the stage in the rock opera "István a király" and once again topped the charts with her own song. In 2024, she released a new song, which immediately gained great popularity and garnered millions of views on YouTube.

Roby Lakatos - the creator of "unorthodox gypsy fusion" music

Roby Lakatos' violin playing, thanks to his epoch-making talent and the professional support of Yehudi Menuhin, has been heard in concerts from Carnegie Hall to the Vatican to London's Albert Hall. Countries around the world have honoured his musical greatness with prestigious awards and other accolades. Among other honours, Roby Lakatos was made honorary citizen of Mexico, and in 2021 he received the Spanish Ministry of Culture's prestigious Music Prize in Madrid, which is awarded to the work of musical talents such as Alfred Brendel, Shlomo Mintz, Michael Nyman and Krzysztof Penderecki.The Virtuoso's international renown is primarily due to the fact that his violin playing, in addition to a high level of musical precision, is expressed in a unique sound and style that is instantly recognisable to anyone, not "only" in Hungary, but anywhere in the world.The international music society owes the birth and international spread of the "unorthodox gypsy fusion" style of music to the unique musical creativity of Roby Lakatos, whose musical novelty is that the Maestro has renewed Hungarian gypsy music by fusing it with classical, Balkan and Orthodox Jewish music, as well as jazz.

Jenő Lisztes

As a cimbalom artist, Jenő Lisztes began his classical cimbalom studies at the age of four under the guidance of Ágnes Szakály. Later, he was taught by Jenő Sörös in both classical and Gypsy music. At the age of twelve, he won the Aladár Rácz Cimbalom Competition. He earned his diploma in classical cimbalom at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 2010. With his musical talent, excellence, sensitivity, and virtuosity, he has become a defining figure in the Hungarian music scene. He has enchanted audiences in some of the world's most renowned concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Musikverein in Vienna. In addition to invitations from internationally recognized symphonic orchestras, he is a regular guest with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has recorded an album alongside Dr. Subramaniam, the world-famous Indian violinist. He is a soloist and section leader of the 100-Member Gypsy Orchestra, a recipient of the Hungarian Heritage and Hungaricum awards. He played the cimbalom in the Hollywood-produced film "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" and collaborated with perhaps the world's most famous film composer, Hans Zimmer. In 2018, he was a soloist with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall during the BBC Proms. He gained recognition as a member of Roby Lakatos's band. In 2015, he founded his own trio with two childhood friends, Dániel Serei on drums and György Orbán on double bass, which they named the Jenő Lisztes Cimbalom Project.

"Visitors must adhere to Jewish religious regulations during the concert. Men are required to enter and stay with covered heads, while women should have their shoulders covered upon entry and throughout their stay in the building."

The concert is organized by the Green Stage Production office, whose motto is:

"The protection of our Earth, and therefore our conscious goal, is to be able to calculate the Ecological Footprint of the given events from the energy consumption data necessary for the implementation of every concert or performance we organize, and as a result of these calculations, plant as many trees in our country as can offset this created ecological footprint”.