Eva Polgár, László Borbély, and Gábor Varga to Bring CARPATHIAN IMPRESSIONS to Zipper Hall This Month

"Carpathian Impressions" kicks off a three-city US tour in Los Angeles, offering a blend of classical and jazz piano music based on the Carpathian Valley's thousand-year-old musical heritage. On the wings of familiar melodies by Liszt, Bartók, and Kodály plus improvisations inspired by the traditions of Central Europe, Hungarian classical pianists Eva Polgár and László Borbély and jazz pianist Gábor Varga take listeners on a sensational journey, exploring the diverse, heartbreaking, peaceful, and virtuosic nature of this ancient cultural treasure. This concert will take place on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, at 7:30 pm, at the Colburn School's Zipper Hall, 200 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA. Tickets are $10-20 at https://LACarpathian.eventbrite.ca

The program will include classical and jazz piano pieces for solo piano, piano duo, and piano trio. Beyond the traditional presentation of classical piano pieces and jazz improvisation, audiences will hear Béla Bartók's Seven Pieces from Mikrokosmos for two pianos and four hands with jazz fusion. Gábor Varga will interact on a second piano with Borbély and Polgár and will take motives from the pieces to improvise on them. Borbély and Polgár will also perform solo works by Liszt, Bartók, and Kodály.

Other stops on the Carpathian Impressions tour: November 27, 2022, at 7:30 pm - Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall - New York CityNovember 29, 2022, at 7:30 pm - Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center - Washington, D.C.

Complete Program:

LISZT Two czardas
BARTÓK Allegro barbaro
BARTÓK Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs
LISZT Csardas macabre
LISZT Sursum corda. Erhebet eure Herzen.
KODÁLY Valsette
KODÁLY Meditation on a motiv of Claude Debussy
LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6
BARTÓK Seven Pieces from Mikrokosmos for two pianos
Jazz piano improvisations on Hungarian folk melodies
Program Finale - classical-jazz adaptation of four movements from the Mikrokosmos.

BIOS

Eva Polgár

Critics praise Eva Polgár for her "intelligent interpretations" (Funzine Magazine), "emotional power" (New York Concert Review). As the Hungary Foundation's Cultural Ambassador of the Year, she will perform solo recitals in the US concluding with her Weill Recital Hall debut in New York in December 2022. Polgár's solo album Liszt: Harmonies patriotiques et religieuses was released under Hunnia Records. She has toured three continents and has been featured at Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in Germany, and at the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary. In the realm of cross-disciplinary endeavors, she collaborates extensively with visual artist Sándor Vály. Their albums of experimental music inspired by literature and visual arts are released under Ektro Records. Besides her teaching appointment at Azusa Pacific University, she is a co-director of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition and a member of Board of Directors at the Southern California Chapter and the national organization of the American Liszt Society. A graduate of the Franz Liszt University in Budapest and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Polgár earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Texas. www.evapolgar.com

László Borbély

László Borbély is a senior lecturer at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. Among other national and international venues, he has performed in the Bartók National Concert Hall (Palace of Arts), the Hungarian Radio, and at the Liszt Academy; at The Hermitage Theatre (St. Petersburg), Stadtschloss Weimar (Germany), and Sarasota Opera House (Florida). He has played under the baton of Zoltán Kocsis and Tamás Vásáry and with orchestras and ensembles, such as The National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Intermodulation Ensemble, and the UMZE Ensemble. His album, Songs of Sorrow and Consolation - Liszt's Late Works by Hunnia Records, received a Special Award at the CD Grand Prix contest of the Hungarian Liszt Society. A recognized educator, he has given masterclasses and lectures at the Haute école de musique of Geneva, the National Conservatory of St. Petersburg, the Seoul National University, and many more. www.borbelylaszlo.hu

Gábor Varga

Gábor Varga started his musical career as a student of Károly Binder. He appeared as a pianist on about fifteen music productions in the past decade. In the last 20 years, he has performed in more than 10 countries, and his albums have achieved outstanding success in Japan and the Netherlands. He frequently concertizes in several formations. Apart from his solo career, his trio ensemble is one of the most successful that he established in 2007. They released three albums with this formation and two in quartet released by the Hunnia Records label. Their album Cool Jazz, (2012,) brought the greatest domestic and international recognition. In 2020, this album received the title Album of the Year in the jazz category of the worldwide NativeDSD Music's high-resolution publications. The award rose international interest in the ensemble's work, so they recorded their second, deservedly successful CD called Cool Jazz Reload in 2021. This year, Gábor Varga also appeared with an improvisational solo album. http://www.vargajazz.com

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