The thirteenth Crescendo Summer Institute officially opened its doors on July 25, 2016. It was preceded by the now traditional Sostenuto Conference, beginning on July 23, and attended by some of the academy’s teachers by invitation only. Its theme was the Holy Spirit. The two-week Summer Institute began on Monday.
Beat and Airi Rink, the directors of Crescendo International and its Summer Institute, as well as violist Eszter Füzesséryné Dudás, the founder of Song for the Nations Cultural Foundation and the director of Crescendo Festival welcomed the assembled participants and outlined the artistic and spiritual program.
The evening was embellished with performances by Crescendo’s instructors: after a fanfare by Janis Porietis of Latvia, the Institute’s new trumpet teacher, vocalist Gábor Bretz performed Figaro’s Aria in C major from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, accompanied on piano by Erika Dallos. Jozef Lupták of Slovakia then performed an original piece, Song Without Words, on the cello, followed by the Prelude from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major.
Mayor György Posta, as well as Erika Molnárné Tóth, headmistress of Tokaji Ferenc Secondary School -- the Institute’s headquarters -- also welcomed Crescendo’s 60 teachers and 140 students from 40 countries.
The next two weeks will be centered around one-on- one, chamber, and orchestra courses. The master classes will conclude with numerous free concerts in Tokaj, from baroque to jazz, and from intimate sectional concerts to Dvořák’s monumental Symphony No. 9 “New World.”