Sweet notes from Hungary

A piano recital by Zsuzsanna Bódás, pianist and composer from Hung­ary, was held at Alliance Francaise recently. Organised by the  Bangalore School of Music, the venue was packed with music connoisseurs and others.

Zsuzsanna had earned her Masters as a pianist and piano professor with distinction at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, Hungary. She has also worked with the Hungarian State Opera House as a member of the Orchestra and as a ballet pianist. She gained a significant repertoire in opera and ballet music and played important solo parts in the Orchestra in Hungary and abroad.

At the event, with her fingers sailing across the piano, she brought out the Mozart pieces beautifully. The pieces she performed included Bach: French Suite in c minor; Mozart: Rondo in D major; Liszt: Fountains of the Villa d’Este, Bartok: Evening in Transylvania; Liszt: Harmonies de soir and jazz standards in Baroque style.

After listening to her, Kiran Kumar, a member of the audience said, “Having heard her music before, it has been a great opportunity to listen to her live. She is extremely talented and her performance brings back a lot of life into the music. It is great to have her in this city, which enjoys and appreciates all musical performances. Her performance today was enchanting.”

Zsuzsanna has a lot of interest in Indian music and expressed her desire to learn more about it. She performs regularly at solo and chamber concerts in Europe and her repertoire includes Baroque, Classical, Romantic and contemporary music.

In the last decade, she has dealt intensively with jazz music, being educated by famous masters. She is also the founder of two jazz quartets — the Jazz-Ba­roque Quartet and the Byzantium Jazz Project for which she composes musical pieces.