Barnabás Kelemen performs Tchaikovsky and Bartók

In his native Budapest, violinist Barnabás Kelemen honors the great Hungarian violin tradition with an extraordinary feat: nine violin concertos in 3 days. This program features two of the most dazzling performances from that concerto marathon at the 2026 Festival Academy Budapest: Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major and Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2! First up is the Tchaikovsky, with András Keller and the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Originally dedicated to Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer — who refused to perform the work as he deemed it “unplayable” — Tchaikovsky’s masterful concerto is now a pillar of the violin repertoire, reputed for its technical difficulty and adored for its rapturous Romanticism. Kelemen then performs Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto with Andreas Ottensamer and the Győr Philharmonic. At the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music — where the composer himself once taught piano — Kelemen breathes life into an utterly Hungarian and undeniably Bartókian work, from its folk-inspired opening theme and poignant Andante, to its explosively virtuosic finale.