Best of Budapest & Hungary

From September 3 to 12, the 25th Jewish Cultural Festival in Budapest will offer music and literature at seven venues.

    The events will take place in the Dohány Street Synagogue, the Frankel Leó Street Synagogue, the Gyula Hegedűs Street Synagogue, the Rumbach Street Synagogue, the Bálint House, the Hungarian House of Music and the Papp László Budapest Sports Arena, the organizers said in a press release.

    The audience will have the chance to meet renowned singers of the Hungarian music scene such as Andrea Malek, Andrea Szulák, Mariann Falusi, Mónika Nika Veres, Anna Pásztor, Veca Janicsák, Péter Müller Sziámi, László Dés and Tamás Vastag.

    As they write, among the actors who are also outstanding in their singing skills are artists such as Petra Gubik, Eszter Ónodi, Réka Koós, Gabriella Hámori, Kata Janza, Béla Fesztbaum, Zoltán Bereczki, Szilveszter Szabó, András Csonka, Iván Kamarás, Gábor Máté and Pál Mácsai.

    From the Hungarian music scene, among others, Katica Illényi, Orsolya Korcsolán, Judit Klein, Bandi Jáger, Kálmán Balogh, Miklós Lukács, Márton Szives, Gergely Nógrádi, Pál Banda, Voice&Brass, the Debrecen Dixieland Jazz Band and the Klezmerész ensemble will take to the stage.

    The festival will open with a concert by the Budapest Klezmer Band led by Fegya Jávori and will close with a performance by the Sabbathsong Klezmer Band led by Tamás Masa, also celebrating its 25th anniversary.

    The festival will also welcome the Israeli band Voices of Yemen, the Omri Mor Trio and marimba and xylophone artist Alex Jacobowitz.

    The Binah Orchestra, led by Leonid Gutkin, will make its world debut, and will be joined for the evening by national and international artists Netta Nimrodi and Arie Burshtein of Israel's Amber Revival, Russian Alex and Nikita Pozdnyakov of the Rox Brothers, and singer Viktoria Kolosova.