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Over four summer weekends, from 10 July to 1 August 2026, the “Hungarian Versailles” will once again come to life. The Haydneum will present a total of eight concerts on period instruments in the magnificent Apollo Room of Eszterh\u00e1za Palace in Fert\u0151d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Continuing the legacy of the distinguished concert promoter K\u00e1lm\u00e1n Str\u00e9m<\/strong>, the series aims to offer audiences the very highest standards of historically informed performance in the unique setting of the Esterh\u00e1zy residence. The orchestral gala concerts will feature the Orfeo Orchestra<\/strong>, conducted by Gy\u00f6rgy Vashegyi<\/strong>, with fortepianist Petra Somlai<\/strong> as soloist, while Capella Savaria<\/strong> and its soloists will appear during the closing weekend. The chamber music programmes will be presented by Ensemble Variabile<\/strong>, together with some of Hungary’s finest keyboard players.<\/p>\n\n PROGRAMME<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The opening weekend offers a rich selection for chamber music enthusiasts. In two concerts, the outstanding period-instrument musicians of Ensemble Variabile<\/strong> will perform masterpieces by Haydn<\/strong> and Mozart<\/strong>, alongside less familiar works, including the delightful String Symphony<\/em> composed by the twelve-year-old Mendelssohn<\/strong> and the imposing Sextet by the celebrated pianist and composer Friedrich Kalkbrenner<\/strong>. The programme is completed by a selection of verbunkos<\/em> music<\/strong>, providing an authentic insight into eighteenth-century Hungarian instrumental traditions and their influence as far afield as Vienna.<\/p>\n\n During the second weekend, Gy\u00f6rgy Vashegyi<\/strong> presents a selection of masterpieces from the Viennese Classical repertoire with his own Orfeo Orchestra<\/strong>, joined by fortepianist Petra Somlai<\/strong>. Joseph Haydn<\/strong>, who served the Esterh\u00e1zy court as composer and Kapellmeister for almost three decades, naturally takes centre stage, with symphonies<\/strong> composed within the walls of the palace that combine grandeur with wit. The programmes also include some of Mozart<\/strong>‘s most brilliant piano concertos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n The third weekend is devoted to keyboard instruments. The young harpsichord duo R\u00f3za Bene<\/strong> and M\u00e1rton Bors\u00e1nyi<\/strong>, together with the fortepiano duo Rita Papp<\/strong> and L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Gerh\u00e1t<\/strong>, will recreate the rich keyboard culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through a varied repertoire of four-hand works. A particular highlight of the harpsichord recital will be M\u00e1rton Bors\u00e1nyi<\/strong>‘s Overture and Fantasia<\/em>, a contemporary work that enters into dialogue with the historical repertoire. The fortepiano recital concludes with Johann Sebastian Bach’s timeless chorales in arrangements by Gy\u00f6rgy Kurt\u00e1g<\/strong>, paying tribute to the composer in the year of his centenary.<\/p>\n\n The concluding weekend promises a festive finale in collaboration with Capella Savaria<\/strong> of Szombathely, one of the internationally acclaimed pioneers of historically informed performance. Alongside symphonies by Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn<\/strong> and Mozart<\/strong>, audiences will hear Haydn’s Horn Concerto in D major<\/strong> and Ji\u0159\u00ed Anton\u00edn Benda’s Flute Concerto in E minor<\/strong>. The soloists will be horn player D\u00e1niel P\u00e1lk\u00f6vi<\/strong> and flautist Andrea Bertalan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n A UNIQUE ATMOSPHERE IN A HISTORIC SETTING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Since its foundation, the Haydneum \u2013 Hungarian Centre for Early Music has worked in close partnership with Eszterh\u00e1za Palace in Fert\u0151d.<\/strong> Throughout the summer it presents regular early music concerts at the palace, followed by its atmospheric annual festival held in late August and early September.<\/p>\n\n Joseph Haydn spent the defining years of his creative life in the service of the Esterh\u00e1zy court, which became one of the foremost musical centres of eighteenth-century Europe. It is therefore fitting that historically informed performances should find a natural home in this exceptional setting, a place of outstanding importance not only in Hungarian cultural history but also in the history of European music.<\/p>\n\n The distinctive atmosphere of these concerts arises from the meeting of place and performance. In the surroundings for which they were conceived, and performed on period instruments, the music is heard as its composers originally imagined it.<\/p>\n\n DETAILED PROGRAMME<\/a><\/p>\n\n Organiser: Haydneum \u2013 Hungarian Centre for Early Music<\/p>\n\n