Concert Details

Beethoven: King Stephen Overture
Liszt: Totentanz (József Balog, piano)
Liszt: Hungarian Fantasy (József Balog, piano)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2

One of the first rockstars of classical music, the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt galvanized nineteenth-century audiences with passionate performances of richly expressive music. It is said that young ladies collected his used handkerchiefs and made lockets from strands of his wild hair. Hungarian pianist József Balog plays Liszt’s diabolical Totentanz, “Dance of Death,” as well as the tuneful Hungarian Fantasy. Liszt would be pleased to find himself featured alongside his idol Beethoven; we will hear the early Symphony No. 2 and the overture to King Stephen, written to commemorate the founding of the Kingdom of Hungary.