Musicologist and music critic Olga de Kort (The Netherlands) studied in Russia (piano, culture sciences), France (journalism) and the Netherlands (musicology and music history, music education and communication, organ) where she has lived from 1998. She is active as a music journalist, lecturer in music history and culture and as a freelance musician. She writes for Piano Bulletin, Pianist, Luister, Preludium, De Klank, Het Orgel, Muziek&Liturgie, Kunstzone and Bachtrack. Besides her personal journalist blog, Olga de Kort has a website about Russian music in the Netherlands. At this moment she is working on a book about Russian music and musicians in the Netherlands and on a biography of Russian singer Anna El Tour.
Though the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s programme used all the traditional ingredients for a concert of Russian music, it improved the recipe considerably with very special flavours.
Neither Rachmaninov's music nor the precision and perfection of the performance lose any of their power, vigor, brilliance and magic with a change from the traditional concert perspective.
