Welcome! The 2021 American Liszt Society Festival at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance will focus on Liszt’s Hungarian roots and legacies. We will focus on music of the Romani people, as it influenced composers across Europe, both Hungarian and otherwise. We will open with a performance by the Gypsy Stringz with violinist George Batyi, hear and play the complete Hungarian Rhapsodies, eat Hungarian food, take in presentations by leading musicologists on verbunkos and the style hongrois, observe Hungarian dance steps, hear Hungarian chamber and vocal repertoire, and much much more!
Festival Dates*: October 15-18, 2021
2021 American Liszt Society Festival Program
Aural Hungarian pronunciation guide
Friday October 15, 2021
9:00am
Board Meeting
Location TBD
4:00-5:15pm
Film: “Piano Lessons: the Life and Art of German Diez Nieto” – Justin Kolb
Britton Recital Hall
8:00-10:00pm
Concert by George Batyi and the Gypsy Stringz
Rackham Auditorium
Saturday, October 16, 2021
9:00-9:25am
Lecture: “In Search of Hungarianness in Music” – Peter Laki
Watkins Lecture Hall
9:30-9:55am
Recital: Music of Franz Liszt
Britton Recital Hall
10:00-10:45am
Presentation: “What do we mean when we say ‘Gypsy music’? A brief tour” – Lynn Hooker
Watkins Lecture Hall
BREAK
11:15-11:40am
Lecture-recital: “The Hungarian Rhapsodies of Imre (Emerich) Székely” – János Kery
Britton Recital Hall, pre-recorded
11:45-12:10pm
Recital: Solo piano transcriptions by Liszt
Britton Recital Hall, live and pre-recorded
LUNCH
2:00-2:25pm
Lecture-demonstration: “Dancing the Csárdás” – Slávka Jelinková and Christian Matijas-Mecca
Hankinson Hall
2:30-3:45pm
Lecture: “Historical Approaches to Interpretive Ornamentation and Rubato in Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies” – Jonathan Bellman and Farhan Malik
Watkins Lecture Hall
BREAK
4:00-5:15 Session: Highlight on the Gershwin Initiative
Lecture-demonstration: “The Gershwin Critical Edition and the Rhapsody in Blue” – Mark Clague and Logan Skelton
Lecture: “Restoring the Gershwin Piano” – Robert Grijalva
Recital: George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue (1924) – Logan Skelton with Joonghun Cho
Britton Recital Hall
DINNER
7:30-7:55pm
Pre-concert talk by Farhan Malik
8:00pm
Recital: Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies S. 244 Nos. 1-15 (1846-53)
Britton Recital Hall
Sunday, October 17, 2021
9:00-9:45am
Recital: Early Pianos at Michigan
Britton Recital Hall
9:50-10:15am
Lecture-recital: “Károly Aggházy (1855-1918) – Liszt’s Favorite Hungarian Student” – Sławomir Dobrzanski
Britton Recital Hall
10:20-10:45am
Recital: Rare Hungarian Romantics – Works of Menter and Mihalovich
Britton Recital Hall
BREAK
11:00-11:25am
Lecture: “Hungary as Young Liszt Knew It and How it Changed” – Robert Eshbach
Watkins Lecture Hall, pre-recorded
11:30-12:30pm
Recital: Late Works of Liszt
Britton Recital Hall
LUNCH
2:00-2:25pm
Recital: Lieder by Mihalovich, Liszt, and Dvořák
Britton Recital Hall
2:30-3:10pm
Lecture: “What is There to Analyze? Style hongrois/verbunkos Idiom Between Liszt and Brahms” – Shay Loya
Watkins Lecture Hall
BREAK
3:30-4:15pm
Recital: Ukrainian themes – Music of Lysenko, Bartók, and Skoryk
Britton Recital Hall
4:20-5:20pm
Recital: Music of Ernö (Ernst) von Dohnányi (1877-1960)
Britton Recital Hall
DINNER
8:00pm
Chamber Music Recital: Works of Kocsár, Bartók, and Brahms University of Michigan Faculty
Britton Recital Hall
Monday, October 18, 2021
9:00-9:40am
Recital: Music of Bartók and Kodály
Britton Recital Hall
9:45-10:10am
Lecture: “Around Liszt’s Shadow: Stephen Heller, Hungarian Composer-Pianist” – Jonathan Kregor
Watkins Lecture Hall
10:15-11:10am
Recital: Music of Bartók and Kodály
Britton Recital Hall
BREAK
11:30-12:25pm
Chamber Music Recital: University of Michigan Students and Faculty
Britton Recital Hall
LUNCH
2:00-2:20pm
Lecture Recital: Játékok by György Kurtág (b. 1926) – Robert Satterlee
Britton Recital Hall
2:25-2:40pm
Recital: Harpsichord Works by György Ligeti (1923-2006) – Carl Bolleia
Britton Recital Hall
2:45-3:15pm
Recital: Music of Liszt and de Falla
Britton Recital Hall
BREAK
3:30-3:55pm
Lecture: The Life and Performances of Dr. Ernö Daniel – Katherine Hickey
Watkins Lecture Hall
4:00-5:00pm
Recital: Contemporary Piano Music – Works of Danielpour, Kocsár, Fekete, and Dubrovay
Britton Recital Hall
5:00pm
CLOSING BANQUET
Hankinson Hall
*At this time, external speakers and performers are permitted on campus, subject to the University’s COVID-19 policy. The UM and ALS are not responsible for changes in health restrictions related to the subsequent course of the pandemic.
Gypsy Stringz with violinist George Batyi
Eastern European music band with instruments including the violin, bass, brac and bugarija, cimbalom. led by Romani violinist George Batyi.
Jonathan Bellman
Professor of Music History and Literature of the University of Northern Colorado, author of The ‘Style hongrois’ in the Music of Western Europe.
Lynn Hooker
Associate Professor of Music History of Purdue University, author of Redefining Hungarian Music from Liszt to Bartók.
Peter Laki
Author of numerous articles on Bartók and other Hungarian composers, and Editor of Bartók and His World
Shay Loya
Recipient of the Alan Walker Prize. Author of Liszt’s Transcultural Modernism and the Hungarian-Gypsy Tradition.
Members of the American Liszt Society (ALS), Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), American Musicological Society (AMS), or College Music Society (CMS) receive reduced registration rates, as shown below.
Full conference, non-member ($150)
Full conference, member of AMS, CMS, or MTNA ($125)
Full conference, member of ALS ($100)
Full conference, student ($40)
Single-day pass, non-member ($60)
Single-day pass, member of ALS, AMS, CMS or MTNA ($40)
Banquet registration is closed.
The Festival has made group reservations at the following hotels. Please mention the School of Music, Theatre & Dance (American Liszt Society) when making your reservation for inclusion in the block.
Microtel 3610 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor (2.7 miles from campus) (734) 997-9100
DoubleTree by Hilton 3600 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor (2.7 miles from campus) (734) 769-9800
Please visit the Ann Arbor Convention & Visitors Bureau for information about additional hotels and ground transportation.
University of Michigan campus maps
Events will take place at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance E.V. Moore Building and Rackham Auditorium.
Questions? Please contact Festival Director Matthew Bengtson or graduate assistant Minji Kim.
