András Keller conducts Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2, Bluebeard's Castle, and more

Enter into the profound emotional landscape of one of Bartók’s most intimate works, his sole opera, Bluebeard’s Castle, performed by the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra and esteemed Hungarian singers, mezzo-soprano Lilla Horti and bass Miklós Sebestyén at the 2025 Bartók Festival. The multi-talented András Keller also conducts Bartók’s Falun (Village Scenes) and his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, performed by award-winning Hungarian pianist János Balázs. To begin, colorful Slovak folk songs whisk us straight into the heart of Bartók’s Hungary (now Slovakia) in three of the five Village Scenes originally written in 1924 following the composer’s trip collecting folk music around Europe. Next, János Balázs dazzles in Bartók’s highly virtuosic Second Piano Concerto, one of the most challenging pieces in the repertoire. The second half of the program is dedicated to the raw emotions of Charles Perrault’s characters, Bluebeard (Sebestyén) and Judith (Horti), a newly married couple who explores the seven rooms of Bluebeard’s castle, each of which plunges Judith — and the audience — deeper into the tormented realms of her new husband’s complex psyche.

Photo © Barbara Palágyi