Performer: Kelemen Quartet

Playing repeatedly in my mind as I walked home on 24 July was the spine-chilling orchestral performance of the "Dance of the Knights" from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet in the Franz Liszt Academy’s superb Solti Hall.

Auckland has not seen chamber music of this sheer magnetic excitement since, funnily enough, the Takács Quartet were here a couple of years ago. There must be something in the water in Hungary for that country to concurrently have two such magnificent string quartets.

Das Kelemen-Quartett überzeugte mit leichter Artikulation, einem weichen Ton und ausgezeichneter, sprechender Agogik und Dynamik, perfekter Koordination. Es agierte aus einem Geist, mit einer Seele.

We spoke to the two Artistic Directors about this year's Festival, full of eclectic performers and events.

We take a glimpse into the lives of Barnabás Kelemen and Katalin Kokas, to whom lockdown has brought a newborn son, a newly reformed string quartet and the challenge of a full Bartók cycle for Bartók Spring International Arts Weeks.