From 16 to 18 November, the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague organised masterclasses, concerts and a lecture, inspired by Hungarian composers. With the support of the Embassy of Hungary and in collaboration with the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungarian experts, László Nemes, Árpád Tóth, Géza Szilvay and Csaba Szilvay, were invited to teach in The Hague.
The weekend was kicked off on 16 November by Géza and Csaba Szilvay, who gave a three-day Colourstrings masterclass for violin and cello teachers, respectively. ‘Colourstrings’ is a famous teaching method for young string players, developed by the two brothers.
On 17 and 18 November, masterclasses were also given by László Nemes and Árpád Tóth, which were targeted at teachers, musicians and choir conductors, and focused on working with groups, choirs and secondary school classes using the principles of the Kodály based music education. The two masterclass programs welcomed over one hundred participants.
The weekend was completed by two unique side programs. On Friday, the Royal Conservatoire hosted a very special evening 'In gesprek met Reinbert de Leeuw', an interview with Reinbert de Leeuw, who recently conducted the CD-box ‘György Kurtág: Complete Works for Ensemble and Choir’, performed by Asko|Schönberg and the Netherlands Radio Choir. The discussion with Mr De Leeuw was accompanied by music of Kurtág, played by students of the Royal Conservatoire and musicians from the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble.
On Saturday, the Conservatoire presented the result of a week’s work by students, coaches from Asko|Schönberg, and teachers of the Royal Conservatoire. In this concert, chamber music and piano works by the famous Hungarian composers, Ligeti and Kurtág were played.
