The festival's topic is Reflections-Metamorphoses.
The metamorphoses of Bach's music in the 20th century and Gelikon Opera's interpretation of the Apollo topic will be of a special interest. The opera singers will perform Mozart's Apollo and Hyacinth, Britten's Young Apollo and Stravinsky's Apollo Musagetes.
World's best musicians are traditionally invited to the December Night. This year is not an exception. The famous Hagen Quartet, which can play music of any style, opened the festival. This band boasts the best knowledge of culture and subtle features of manners of different epochs. Compositions of the 20th century are their genuine cup of tea. The spotlight of the opening concert was the performance of the mysterious composition combining Officium Breve by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag and the instrumental transcription of Josquin Depres' vocal work. The idea of alternating Kurtag's short interludes with extended fragments of the Renaissance composer is good, indeed. However, the organizers gave no commentaries as usual and the audience did not understand whether it was the idea of the Hungarian composer or the know-how of the musicians.
The second concert of the festival (performance of mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink and pianist Anthony Speary) was cancelled to a sad surprise for the audience.
