Budapest Festival Orchestra

Bartók’s passion for Hungarian and Romanian folk music, his stunning skill as an orchestral colorist, and sharp dramatic gifts are showcased. Legendary vocalist Márta Sebestyén will sing traditional Hungarian songs with a handful of musicians from the orchestra, setting the stage for Bartók’s vibrant folk song and dance treatments. In a different vein, but no less exciting, his one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle, with its sumptuous orchestral and expressive vocal writing, is a riveting climax to a concert that, when performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer in London, was called “thought-provoking and exhilarating” by The Guardian.