Grencsó, Dukay, Holló, Kalafszky
Biography Grencsó, Dukay, Holló, Kalafszky
István Grencsó
(1956), saxophonist and flutist, is one of the outstanding figures of Hungarian avant-garde jazz. His career began in 1979 with the founding of the Masina Jazz Group, and he became more widely known in the 1980s as a partner of György Szabados. In 1984, he founded the Collective, which has been his number one band ever since. With this ever-changing formation, he has released several albums. Grencsó's repertoire is extremely varied, and he is considered a master of formal changes. In addition to his improvisational experiments, he has covered numerous jazz standards, played pop, rock and ethno music independently of current fashion trends, reinterpreted Hungarian dance music and chansons from the 1960s, and composed suites that lean towards classical music. He has performed and recorded with Paul Termos, Peter Kowald, Tobias Delius, Peter Brötzman and the Russian Noise Orchestra, among others.
Barnabás Dukay
(1950) studied composition at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music with Rezső Sugár (1969-1974), receiving his diploma as a composer and music theory teacher in 1976. He was member of the New Music Studio from 1970 to 1990 where he participated as a keyboard and percussion player and conductor in performances of works by contemporary Hungarian and foreign composers. He taught solfege and music theory at the Béla Bartók Conservatory from 1974 to 1991, then became a professor at the Department of Musical Theory of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. He was honoured with the Erkel Prize in 2000 and with the Bartók-Pásztory Award in 2007.
Aurél Holló
Master percussionist Aurél Holló is one of the most versatile artists on the Hungarian music scene. He studied classical percussion and composition at the Academy of Music in Budapest. While at college, he played percussion in a number of contemporary music ensembles and then joined Tea, a jazz fusion group that consisted of young, up-and-coming musicians in 1988. Tea soon gained recognition in Central Europe as a superb local follower of fusion greats Spyro Gyra and Mezzoforte. From 1991 Aurél has been a member of the world-famous classical percussion group Amadinda. He is a teacher of classical percussion at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music in Budapest. He also scored music for animated films, prepared symphony orchestra arrangements for the elite of Hungary's pop scene. He maintains his musical balance by being an active musician in a number of different styles. His compositions for percussion ensemble earned him a reputation well beyond his home country.
Adriána Kalafszky
graduated from the Academy of Music in Budapest with a Master's degree in oratorio and song, and then pursued postgraduate studies in historical singing at the University of Leipzig, Department of Early Music. She has performed at all the major early music festivals in Leipzig, and in 2015 she made her debut as Venus in a performance of John Blow's opera Venus and Adonis at the Alte Musik Fest. In 2018, she studied with world-renowned soprano Nancy Argenta at the opera studio of the Victoria Conservatory of Music in Canada. Since 2014, she has been a regular performer with the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra conducted by György Vashegyi, in concert halls in Hungary and at festivals abroad.
