December 16th, 2023 | 11:30 a.m.
Prof. Pantcho Vladiguerov National Music Academy | 94, Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi Blvd.
An organ sounded for the first time at the Pillow Concerts on December 16, 2023 from 11:30 a.m. in the Concert Hall of the National Academy of Music “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” at 94, Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi Blvd. The festive Christmas program was performed by the famous Hungarian organist Márton Levente Horváth. Apart from being a virtuoso organist, he is also a respected conductor and composer. In 2020, his orchestral work “Scrollin” was selected as “Classical Work of the Year” in Hungary.
The musical program featured the premiere of the Forest of Fires Variations for solo organ on a Bulgarian folklore song written especially for the performer. Georgi Sztojanov, the composer of Bulgarian origin, had a surprising appearance, and the program also included music by the organ master, Johann Sebastian Bach, a piece by the Hungarian composer Gábor Lisznyay Szabó, as well as an original work by the organist Márton Levente Horváth. African-American spirituals in organ arrangements set an exciting and unforgettable finale to the event.
The concert was held with the exceptional support and partnership of the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Institute in Sofia.
THE SOLOIST
Horváth Márton Levente was born in 1983 in Tapolca. He completed his elementary music studies in Pápa and Balassagyarmat. At the Bartók Béla Conservatory of Music in Budapest, he studied composition with István Győr Fekete and organ with Zsuzsa Elekes. He became a student at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 2001. His professors were János Vajda (composition) and Gábor Lehotka (organ). After obtaining his diplomas in 2006 and 2007, he joined the doctoral school at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in the keyboard program. He earned his doctoral degree in 2014. He practices both as a composer and an organist. Between 2003 and 2013, he was the organist at the St. Ladislas Church in Budapest-Kőbánya and the organ accompanist for the St. Ladislas Choir.
Since 2010, he has been teaching in various institutions: between 2010 and 2019 at the Kodály Zoltán Hungarian Choral School; since 2015 as a part-time organ teacher at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music at the Church Music Department, where he has also been an adjunct professor since 2018. Between 2016 and 2017, he was an adjunct professor at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, and since 2017, he has been a teacher of composition at the Bartók Béla Conservatory of Music. Since 2022, he has been the choirmaster and organist at the St. Anna Church in Szervita Square, Budapest. In 2016, he was awarded the Erkel Ferenc Prize in recognition of his compositional work, and in 2017, he received the award from the Hungarian Federation of Choirs, Orchestras, and Folk Ensembles (KÓTA Award). In 2020, his orchestral work titled “Scrollin’” was chosen as the Classical Music Piece of the Year by Artisjus.