Photo: Annelies van der Vegt

Reitze Smits and the Budapest Saxophone Quartet

classical music, opera, theatre

2 May 2018, Wednesday

7:30 pm — 10 pm

one interval

Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

Produced by Müpa Budapest

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Regular visitors to Müpa Budapest's organ concerts have long been aware that these programmes endeavour to expand and enrich whatever previous images the audience members might have had of the instrument. They do this by pairing the organ with new genres and instruments that it would not have encountered in previous centuries. This evening will be no exception.

From his native Netherlands, Reitze Smits is bringing to Müpa Budapest the message of the modern heirs to the venerable Dutch organ tradition. He himself, however, is a modern-minded and receptive artist. A multi-faceted musician, he has learned to play harpsichord in addition to the organ and even pursued studies in musicology. After achieving outstanding results at prestigious international organ competitions (in Toulouse and Bruges), he spent decades working as a church cantor and organist, first in Zaltbommel, and later in Vianen. Just like previous organists to visit Müpa Budapest such as Cameron Carpenter and Frédéric Champion, Smits enjoys creating organ transcriptions from piano works and symphonic compositions.
His Budapest concert programme also gives some indication of his experimental spirit. Stylistically speaking, he will be playing a diverse set of works ranging from Vivaldi and Handel to Poulenc and Milhaud, with lots in between, including works Rachmaninoff originally composed for piano. The other clue is that the organist gladly agreed to share the playbill with the musicians of the Budapest Saxophone Quartet. This means that, in terms of arrangement, the audience is going to get to hear a quite varied selection: there will be some works played on the organ alone, others just for the saxophone quartet, as well as some examples of collaboration between the two, including a saxophone solo with organ accompaniment.

The concert will be preceded from 6.30 pm by a conversation entitled Prelude, where ticket holders will be invited to get to know the performing musician and the works to be performed more closely.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest

Parking information

The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.

Refreshments – Without the Queue

Thanks to our new catering service at the Átrium Snack Bar, you can forget about waiting in line during intermissions for some refreshments and get your order prepped especially for you by the time the intermission actually starts. Find out more about pre-ordering here.