Mario Biondi

27 September 2019

Mario Biondi
27 September 2019, 8 pm — 10 pm
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

The Italian Barry White - that pretty much sums up everything about the Sicilian-born Mario Bondi: with his sensually crooning voice, he is an extremely popular interpreter of soul and R&B tunes. Born Mario Ranno, the singer probably had his fate set out for him in advance, as his father, Stefano Biondi, was himself a hit factory, while other family members - his grandmother as a singer and his great-grandfather as a painter - also enjoyed widespread acclaim in the arts. Mario launched his professional career as a teenager: he was all of 17 years old when he took the stage alongside Ray Charles, with the cream of the crop of Italian vocalists also taking up inviting him to their recording sessions and concerts. He would not deny that Isaac Hayes, Luther Vandross and Donnie Hathaway all had a major influence on the development of his own style. He exploded onto the international music scene and public consciousness in 2004 with his first real hit: This Is What You Are. This number, which he recorded with the High Five Quintet, climbed to the top of numerous charts, inspired numerous remixes and was performed at the Sanremo Music Festival. But Biondi still would not end up sticking with this style, instead going on to experiment with other musical directions ranging from jazz and funk to pop and Brazilian sounds. His popularity has continued unabated into the current decade. Outstanding proof of this fact is his 2013 album Sun, which features such guest artists as Leon Ware, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau and James Taylor. Never waiting for the wave of success to subside, Biondi instead rode it and came out with Mario Christmas, a CD of holiday tunes that kept him in the spotlight. He performs his songs in impeccable English. Although it is rare for him to sing in his mother tongue, at the Bridging Europe festival he will deliver a few songs in Italian.

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Rolando Villazón song recital

1 October 2019

Versatility - this is what journalists consider to be the key attribute of Rolando Villazón's personality. And a look through his discography indeed shows an astounding variety of styles and genres, as the list of recordings attests: ranging from Monteverdi's one-on-one duel Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore to Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer and Tristan und Isölde, Verdi's La traviata and Don Carlos, arias from Gounod and Massenet and Puccini's La bohème, it begs the question of whether Villazón is not at ease with any style. The story of how he became a singer is also not a everyday one. One day a complete stranger rang the doorbell of his Mexico City flat: it was the baritone Arturo Nieto, who had come to say that a friend of his lived next door and could often hear the young man singing - in the shower… The neighbour realised what a treasure the bathroom aria-singer possessed and told the baritone, who then took the trouble to let Villazón know that he should start to do something with his talents. At this concert, the tenor will be guiding the audience through a relatively unfamiliar world: the Spanish and Latin American songs he has selected will captivate listeners with their unique atmosphere, vibrant temperament and exotic colours.

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Rachele Andrioli & Rocco Nigro / Mimmo Epifani & The Barbers

20 September 2019

The La notte della taranda ('Night of the Tarantella') festival has been held in Salento each year since 1998, with top tarantella and pizzica bands participating. As tradition has it, there is only one way for mortals to get rid of the poison of a tarantula bite: by dancing it out of themselves with breakneck whirling. This is how the name 'tarantella' was given to the fiery southern Italian dances in which the dancers lose themselves in passionate movements, as if they had been bitten by a tarantula. While there is is fortunately no threat from the big spiders at Müpa Budapest, the institution will nonetheless be hosting Italy's finest pizzica groups as part of the Bridging Europe festival. Tambourinist/singer Rachele Andrioli and accordionist Rocco Nigro previously played with some of the finest groups in the genre - including Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino and Antonio Castignano - and have now recorded three albums as a duo. The most recent one, Maletiempu, came out in 2018. What they provide at their concerts is more than simply pizzica, and extends from southern Italian dance music to Portuguese fado and Mexican ranchera. This is why Rachele is often compared to Amalia Rodriguez and Chavela Vargas. The mandolin player/singer Mimmo Epifani received his first mandolin lessons from the musician and barber Constantino Vito - and it was out of respect for his teacher that he named the band he formed in 2004 the 'Epifani Barbers'. Later on, at the conservatory in Padua, he would expand his understanding to embrace other genres and the music of other peoples. Over the past 15 years, he has produced four albums - the most recent one titled Putiferio - that have made him a living legend in the pizzica genre. There apparently is no other mandolinist in the world who can give a shave with equal virtuosity...

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News
Michael Wollny & Tamar Halperin

Donny McCaslin Quartet

Soon

20 August 2019, Tuesday

30 August 2019, Friday

31 August 2019, Saturday

1 September 2019, Sunday

Classical music, opera, theatre

Péter Eötvös and the Musikfabrik Köln

17 September 2019, 7:30 pm Festival Theatre

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MÁV Symphony Orchestra

29 September 2019, 7:30 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Péter Eötvös: Angels in America

12 October 2019, 7 pm Festival Theatre

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The RIAS Kammerchor and the Amadinda Percussion Group

20 October 2019, 7:30 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Organ Duel - In memory of Liszt

21 October 2019, 7:30 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Massenet: Manon

26 October 2019, 6:55 pm Festival Theatre

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Massenet: Manon

26 October 2019, 6:55 pm Auditorium

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Mendelssohn: Paulus

26 October 2019, 7:30 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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World music, jazz, popular music

The hot jazz virtuosos - The Rollini Project

30 August 2019, 8 pm Festival Theatre

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The Queen of Swing - Gunhild Carling and the BJC Big Band

1 September 2019, 8 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Erika Náray and special guest: János Lackfi

19 September 2019, 8 pm

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Rachele Andrioli & Rocco Nigro / Mimmo Epifani & The Barbers

20 September 2019, 8 pm Festival Theatre

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Cinema Italia

21 September 2019, 8 pm Festival Theatre

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Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino

22 September 2019, 8 pm Festival Theatre

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Fonó Band: Atyai ág (Paternal Branch)

24 September 2019, 7:30 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Mario Biondi

27 September 2019, 8 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Dance, contemporary circus

Recirquel Company Budapest: My Land

13 September 2019, 7 pm Festival Theatre

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Recirquel Company Budapest: My Land

13 September 2019, 9 pm Festival Theatre

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Recirquel Company Budapest: My Land

14 September 2019, 3 pm Festival Theatre

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Recirquel Company Budapest: My Land

14 September 2019, 7 pm Festival Theatre

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Recirquel Company Budapest: Non Solus

15 September 2019, 3 pm Festival Theatre

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Recirquel Company Budapest: Non Solus

15 September 2019, 7 pm Festival Theatre

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Hungarian State Folk Ensemble: The Thousand Faces of the Southern Land

18 September 2019, 7 pm Festival Theatre

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FAMILIE FLÖZ: Dr. Nest

4 October 2019, 7 pm Festival Theatre

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Family and youth events

Road to Symphonia - The Strings

28 September 2019, 11 am Glass Hall

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Road to Symphonia - The Woodwinds

26 October 2019, 11 am Glass Hall

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Weber: Der Freischütz

10 November 2019, 11 am Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Kaláka Band

30 November 2019, 11 am Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Hungarian State Folk Ensemble: Wonderful Nativity

21 December 2019, 11 am Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Hungarian State Folk Ensemble: Wonderful Nativity

21 December 2019, 6 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Hungarian State Folk Ensemble: Wonderful Nativity

22 December 2019, 11 am Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Hungarian State Folk Ensemble: Wonderful Nativity

22 December 2019, 6 pm Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

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Literature, cinema, fine arts

La Dolce Vita (1960)

21 September 2019, 3 pm Auditorium

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The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza; 2013)

21 September 2019, 7:30 pm Auditorium

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8½ (Otto e mezzo; 1963)

22 September 2019, 3 pm Auditorium

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Youth (2015)

22 September 2019, 7:30 pm Auditorium

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