Bard College Conservatory of Music Presents

SIGNS, GAMES, AND MESSAGES 2025: A KURTÁG FESTIVAL
OPENING NIGHT!
Program One: 
Bartók and Kurtág

The opening night concert for this year's Signs, Games & Messages - A Kurtág Festival!

Program One:
Bartók and Kurtág

Distinguished Signs, Games & Messages 2025 festival guest artists:
Hiromi Kikuchi, violin and Ken Hakii, viola

Béla Bartok (1881–1945)
Selections from 44 Duos for Two Violins

15. Soldier’s Song
8. Slovakian Song (2)
17. Hungarian March (1)
44. Transylvanian Dance

György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Hipartita (Hirominak), Op. 43
⁂ (sostenuto, doloroso)
Après une lecture de Rimbaud - To Anne Longuet-Marx
Oreibasia
In Memoriam György Gonda
Heraclitus: It Is Hard To Fight With Desires
Teneramente
Perpetuum Mobile
Heimweh - Hommage à Péter Eötvös 

INTERMISSION

György Kurtág
Selections from Signs, Games and Messages 

Hommage à J. S. B.
Jelek 1
Im Volkston
The Carenza Jig
Klagendes Lied
Mijakonak
Perpetuum Mobile
Pizzicato

Béla Bartok
Selections from 44 Duos for Two Violins

26.     Teasing Song
28.     Sorrow 
14.     Pillow Dance 
21.     New Year’s Greeting (1)
43.     Pizzicato 
37.     Prelude and Canon 
 
Violinist Hiromi Kikuchi has studied with Saschko Gawriloff, Henryk Szeryng, and Nathan Milstein. She has performed as a soloist worldwide and appeared at major festivals in Salzburg, Paris, Vienna, and beyond. György Kurtág composed several works for her, including Hipartita and …concertante…, which she performed with La Scala and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. A recipient of the Franco Abbiati Prize, the German Critics’ Award, and the Dutch Edison Award, her recording of Kurtág’s Signs, Games and Messages was named a New York Times Best Classical CD.

Ken Hakii studied violin at Tokyo University of the Arts and viola in graduate school. A winner of the Min-On Chamber Music Competition and the Kirishima International Music Festival Grand Prize, he has served as principal violist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist with leading conductors, including Wolfgang Sawallisch and Mariss Jansons, and appeared at major festivals such as Salzburg and the BBC Proms. György Kurtág composed …concertante… for him and his wife, violinist Hiromi Kikuchi. Their recording of Signs, Games and Messages won the German Critics’ and Dutch Edison Awards


This annual three-day festival celebrates the music of Hungarian composer György Kurtág (b. 1926) alongside works by those who shaped or were shaped by his artistry, fostering a timeless, open-ended dialogue between composers, musicians and styles.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

This evening’s program is only available to in-person audience members.

This festival has been permanently endowed through the generous support of László Z. Bitó '60 and Olivia Cariño.


 

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Download: BCOM_Kurta?g 2025_ConcertProgram FINAL.pdf

For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 7:00 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space

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