I am not exaggerating when I say that, whatever I achieved as a musician, I owe more to Leó Weiner than to anyone else. ... To me, he remains an outstanding example of what a musician should be.

Sir Georg Solti

Annie Fischer 100 – concert series at the Liszt Academy

2 October 2014

Between 3 and 5 October, the Liszt Academy presents a series of concerts marking the centenary of one of the greatest Hungarian performing artists of the 20th century, Annie Fischer.

The concert series commences on 4 October in the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy with a concert by Annie Fischer scholarship artists. Throughout her life, Annie Fischer was strongly committed to supporting young artists and twelve years ago, initiated by Adrienne Csengery, a scholarship bearing her name was founded. This year's scholars now perform to the public in a concert entitled "The Youngsters." During the break, those attending are invited to visit the Annie Fischer Centenary exhibition in the Liszt Academy's Atrium, next to the Solti Hall, which contains photographs and documents never before displayed to the public.
 


4 October features a concert entitled "Colleagues" in which Annie Fischer's contemporaries, friends and students pay homage to one of the most important and unforgettable pianists of the 20th century in the Solti Hall. Her adopted granddaughter Katalin Szutrély, one of her most important friends towards the end of her life, pianist Ilona Prunyi, her private student and friend Csilla Varga as well as her chamber partners select from Annie Fischer's impressive repertoire. Although Annie Fischer never taught at the Liszt Academy, her spirit still lives on there. As the faculty director Kálmán Dráfi, himself a performer at the concerts, said in an interview: "It was a tremendous gift in my life that Annie Fischer taught me for years. From her I obtained the Dohnányi-era attitude which I would like to develop and strengthen in the faculty."

On 5 October the three day concert series concludes with an orchestral concert featuring Péter Frankl and Tamás Vásáry in the Liszt Academy's Grand Hall. Annie Fischer was a student of Ernő Dohnányi and Arnold Székely and exploded into public consciousness in 1933 when, to her great surprise, she won the first ever International Ferenc Liszt Piano Competition at the age of nineteen. This led to a miraculous career in which her contemporaries played an important role. These include two younger pianists, Péter Frankl and Tamás Vásáry with whom Annie Fischer enjoyed a particularly close relationship. Together they will evoke the figure of Annier Fischer at this celebratory concert in the Grand Hall, along with the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra with whom she  frequently performed. Since this concert is already a sell-out, it has been decided to open the principal rehearsal by the two artists to the public. This will take place at 14.30 in the afternoon. The money raised will be donated to the foundation of the St János Hospital's Department for Gastroenterology.