Monday, 17 March

Liszt Ferenc
Music Academy at 7:30pm: The Faces of Romanticism
with Dohnányi’s Stabat Mater and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria conducted by Gábor
Hollerung. Venue: District VI, Liszt Ferenc tér 8. Tel: 342-0179

A newly
translated novel by Transylvanian writer György Dragomán lets us glimpse life
behind the Iron Curtain through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy. Robert Hodgson
met the author in a Budapest
coffee house to discuss the genesis of his morbid gem of a novel.

Even if the
weather is not yet cooperative, the Budapest Spring Festival is set to lighten
your step from Friday. The festival between 14 and 30 March is in its 28th year
and is one of Europe’s largest and most
celebrated cultural festivals. The 200-or-so theatre performances, exhibitions,
classical concerts, jazz shows and other events are expected to attract 200,000
guests. 

Flood of humanity

A tsunami hits the Netherlands, and 170,000 residents have to be
evacuated within days. Apart from Hungary, no country is willing to accept the
Dutch refugees.

Author reaches more deeply into stories often toldThe nine Jews of this book’s subtitle were all Hungarian Jews who had left their own homeland before they “fled Hitler”.

Medici brings not only art, but experienceThe entrance and exit consist of glass doors with an elaborate security system. The light is dim, and every few seconds a shrill whistle sounds through the connecting rooms.

Medici brings not only art, but experienceThe entrance and exit consist of glass doors with an elaborate security system. The light is dim, and every few seconds a shrill whistle sounds through the connecting rooms.

Arnulf Rainer exhibition at the Virág-Judit GalleryThere is still no clear answer to the age-old question: what is art? Thanks to increasingly diverse trends, it has become more and more difficult to come up with a definition that encompasses Botticelli’s Venus, the Cubist works of Pablo Picasso and the pictures by the chimpanzee Congo. One of the best known European artists of our time, Arnulf Rainer, has achieved fame by painting over photographs and prints of masterpieces. Last Friday, a selection of his works went on show at the Virág-Judit Gallery.

Photography is famously the most democratic art and at
this exhibition it is easy to imagine yourself in the photographers’ shoes.The Ludwig Museum is showing two exhibitions by
Dutch photographers as part of the LOW Festival. Hans van der Meer has been
photographing amateur football matches in Holland, Belgium and around Europe
since the mid-1990s.

Eight local artists banded together as the Sörrealism
Group are holding a show at the café of the arthouse cinema Palace Kossuth 4,
Váci út 14. The show runs until 6 March, and this Wednesday 27 February 27, the
group will have a gathering at the theatre at 7pm, offering a chance to meet
the artists.