On behalf of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, we are pleased to welcome you to Miskolc for this international conference exploring the transformation of symphonic music in Eastern and Central Europe since 1990.

The collapse of the socialist system and the subsequent emergence of globalized musical cultures have profoundly reshaped orchestral life across our region. However, these changes remain underexplored in international musicological discourse, which has traditionally focused on the dominant European orchestral centres of Vienna, Berlin, and London. This conference aims to address this imbalance by bringing the orchestral traditions of formerly peripheral regions into academic focus.

Our gathering addresses critical questions facing contemporary symphonic music: How have national orchestral traditions adapted to radical political, economic, and cultural shifts? What new operational models and institutional frameworks have emerged? How do compositional paradigms reflect changing aesthetic priorities? And how are orchestras engaging with increasingly diverse and digitally connected audiences?

The thematic scope encompasses regional orchestral cultures and identity formation, institutional innovation, contemporary compositional practices, audience development strategies, and the broader social contexts shaping musical life. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach that integrates musicological, sociological, cultural-anthropological, and institutional-historical perspectives, we aim to provide comprehensive insights into how orchestral cultures are evolving in the 21st century.

This conference represents a unique opportunity to examine real and perceived differences between centre and periphery, to identify emerging practices and interpretive frameworks, and to foster dialogue across disciplinary and geographic boundaries. We hope these three days will generate productive conversations that advance our understanding of symphonic music’s contemporary global landscape.

PROGRAMME

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2025

18:00 – Concert at the Palace of Music (Zenepalota), Bartók Square

“Haydn Through the Eyes of a Contemporary Conductor”
Concert with Introductory Lecture (in German)

Performers:
Symphony Orchestra of the Bartók Béla Faculty of Music, University of Miskolc
Introduction and conducting: László Bartal (University of Miskolc)
Piano soloist: Antal Flach

Programme:
J. Haydn: Symphony No. 83, excerpt
J. Haydn: Symphony No. 89, excerpt
W. A. Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, excerpts
J. Haydn: Piano Concerto No. 2, 3rd movement

Admission is free

20:00 – Dinner at the hotel

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2025

Coffee, tea, water, and traditional Hungarian scones (pogácsa) are available during breaks.
Lunch at the neighbouring restaurant

09:00–09:10 – Opening Ceremony
Welcome addresses:
László Koppány Csáji, Director, Hungarian Academy of Arts, Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology(MMA MMKI)
Károly Ákos Windhager, Conference Organizer, Hungarian Academy of Arts, Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology

SESSION 1 – Morning Session

Chair: Anna Mária Bólya
09:10–09:30  | Miloš Bralović (Institute of Musicology SASA, Belgrade, Serbia)
The Great Symphonists Died. Now What? A Sombre Overview
09:30–09:40 – Discussion
09:40–10:00  | Zsolt Lászlóffy (Partium Christian University, Oradea / Nagyvárad, Romania)
Stele: György Kurtág’s Compositional Technique for Orchestra
10:00–10:10 – Discussion
10:10–10:30  | Mirela Țârc (University of Oradea, Romania)
Cornel Țăranu’s Symphonies: Beyond Constraint Toward Freedom
10:30–10:40 – Discussion

10:40–11:00 – Coffee Break

SESSION 2 – Late Morning Session

Chair: Károly Ákos Windhager
11:00–11:20  | Magdalini Kalopana (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
Stylistic Crossroads: The Evolution of the Greek Symphony after 1950
11:20–11:30 – Discussion
11:30–11:50  | Leon Stefanija (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Symphonic Matinees of Jeunesses Musicales Slovenia 1970–1991 and the Growing World of World and Pop Music
11:50–12:00 – Discussion
12:00–12:20  | Ivana Medić (Institute of Musicology SASA, Belgrade, Serbia)
A Very Belated Self-Rediscovery: Dejan Despić’s Late Symphonies
12:20–12:30 – Discussion
12:30–14:00 – Lunch Break

SESSION 3 – Afternoon Session

Chair: Anna Mária Bólya
14:00–14:20 | Judit Váradi (University of Debrecen, Hungary)
Tradition and Innovation: Repertoire Changes in Symphony Orchestras over Four Years
14:20–14:30 – Discussion
14:30–14:50  | Emese Sófalvi (Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Rescue and Recovery: The Symphonic Repertoire of the Hungarian Opera in Cluj
14:50–15:00 – Discussion
15:00–15:20  | István Potyó (Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Heritage as Present: The Repertoire of the Saint Michael Ecclesiastical Orchestra and Choir
15:20–15:30 – Discussion
15:30–15:50 – Coffee Break

SESSION 4 – Late Afternoon Session

Chair: Anna Mária Bólya
15:50–16:10  | Bálint Horváth (Weiner Leó Catholic Music School and Music Arts Secondary School, Budapest, Hungary)
“A Moonlight Symphony”: Tibor Oláh’s Dialogue with Beethoven
16:10–16:20 – Discussion
16:20–16:40 | Károly Ákos Windhager (Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, Hungary)
Varietas delectat: Diversity in Levente Gyöngyösi’s Symphonic Works
16:40–16:50 – Discussion

SESSION 5 – Closing Roundtable

Chairs: Anna Mária Bólya and Károly Ákos Windhager
16:50–18:00
Roundtable Discussion:
Future Research Directions and Publication Plans
19:00 – Dinner at the hotel

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2025

09:00–10:00 – Excursion to Lillafüred
One-hour walk by the waterfall
10:30 – Departure

ABSTRACTS

MILOS BRALOVIĆ
The great symphonists died. Now what? A Sombre Overview

In this paper, I will present the decline in the number of new symphonies in Serbian music from three major aspects: the deaths of symphonic composers, a decrease or lack of institutional support, and general disinterest in writing large orchestral genres such as symphonies within dominant postmodernist tendencies.

The turn of the century was marked by the deaths of prominent Serbian symphonic composers. Milan Ristić, a composer whose opus counts the largest number of symphonies (nine) in the history of Serbian music, died in 1982. Another great symphonist, Vasilije Mokranjac, died in 1984. Dragutin Čolić, an adherent of the twelve-tone technique in symphonic music, died in 1987. Another symphonic composer who used the twelve-tone technique, Rudolf Brucci, died in 1998. They were followed by Stanojlo Rajičić, who died in 2000 (although his last symphony was written in 1967), Aleksandar Obradović, who died in 2001, Enriko Josif, who died in 2003, Nikola Petin, who died in 2004, and many more since then. While many composers active between 1980 and 2020 seem to have abandoned writing symphonies – to mention, for example, Srđan Hofman, Vlastimir Trajković, Zoran Erić (all deceased in 2021, 2017, and 2024, respectively) – this genre seems to have survived in works of Vuk Kulenović, who resided in Boston since 1992, died in 2017, Dejan Despić, who died in 2024, and Ivan Jevtić – the only living composer on this list, but who spent most of his active years abroad, in Paris. In general, the number of new symphonies decreased.

The decrease in new symphonies in Serbia can be related to the decline of institutions for promoting contemporary music, as observed in the example of the Serbian festival International Review of Composers by Janković-Beguš and Medić (2020), or the lack of systematic music score publishing, which resulted in the founding of the Committee for the Protection of Musical Heritage of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts [Odbor za zaštitu muzičke baštine SANU], as noted by Radovanović and Golubović (2022). This decrease was also followed by a stylistic shift—from (moderated) modernist tendencies up to the 1980s, towards postmodern or post-moderate-modernist tendencies of the turn of the century —which, in the majority of cases, resulted in “small-scale” works.

Biography
Miloš Bralović (Belgrade, 1991) completed his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral studies in musicology at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade. He is a Research Associate at the Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is mainly interested in modernist and avant-garde tendencies in Serbian music from 1918 onwards, including the work of Serbian and Yugoslav composers such as Josip Slavenski, Ljubica Marić, Milan Ristić, Stanojlo Rajičić, and others.

BÁLINT HORVÁTH
A Moonlight Symphony”: Tibor Oláh’s Dialogue with Beethoven

Tibor Oláh (Tiberiu Olah, 1927–2002) was one of the most distinguished representatives of the “Second Generation” of Hungarian composers in Romania. Born in Árpád (Arpășel), Bihar County, he studied at the Cluj Academy of Music under Mihály Eisikovits and György Halmos, later perfecting his training at the Moscow Conservatory and in various Western European courses. His career path diverged radically from that of his Transylvanian Hungarian contemporaries: he settled in Bucharest, where he soon rose to prominence within Romanian contemporary music. His Symphony No. 3 occupies a unique place in both his oeuvre and the recent history of the symphonic genre. The work engages in a fruitful musical dialogue with one of the most celebrated classical compositions, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, while employing strikingly original and unparalleled means of expression.

Biography
Bálint Horváth, is a composer, teacher, editor. He teaches Music Composition at the Weiner Leó Conservatory in Budapest, works as an external editor for Editio Musica Budapest, and is a scholarship holder (2022–25) and a member of the public body of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.

He studied composition at the Bartók Béla Conservatory in Budapest under the guidance of István Fekete Győr, and later at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music with György Orbán. Between 2010 and 2013, he was a doctoral student and demonstrator at the Academy’s Doctoral School, where he wrote his dissertation on the musical arrangements of Romanian colindas. From 2016 to 2022, he served as an Assistant Professor at Partium Christian University in Oradea, Romania.

His works have been performed at leading Hungarian contemporary music festivals, as well as throughout Europe and in the United States. Vocal genres hold a central place in his compositional work. His studies, articles, and reviews — primarily focusing on contemporary composition in Hungary and Romania — have been published in major professional forums.

MAGDALINI KALOPANA
Stylistic Crossroads: The Evolution of the Greek Symphony after 1950

Post-1950 Greek symphonic production occupies a stylistic crossroads, reflecting the negotiation of diverse compositional approaches and the assimilation of modernist idioms. Early symphonies by Jani Christou (1926–1970) and Yorgos Sicilianos (1920–2005) combine neoclassical structures with atonal and serial techniques, signalling a decisive shift from folkloric traditions. Giannis A. Papaioannou’s (1910–1989) Symphony No. 3, awarded at the 1953 Queen Elizabeth International Composition Competition, exemplifies the tension between innovation and national expectation. During the same period, composers such as Konstantinos Kydoniatis (1908–1996) remained aligned with prewar symphonic models.

The postmodern generation of composers further expanded this pluralism. Christos Hatzis (b. 1953) explores hybrid and technologically mediated forms, while Dinos Constantinides (1929–2021), Dimitris Themelis (1931–2017), Alkis Panagiotopoulos, Joseph Papadatos (b. 1960), and Philippos Tsalachouris (b. 1969) structure movements around texts, myths, or abstract concepts, extending programmatic traditions. Other composers—including Theodore Antoniou (1935–2018), Christos Samaras (b. 1956), Charalambos Kanas (b. 1952), Stelios Coucounaras (b. 1936), and Athanasios Simoglou—focus on orchestral colour, form, and timbral innovation.

Dimitris Dragatakis’ trajectory from neoclassicism and social realism through avant-garde experimentation to programmatic writing exemplifies the rich polystylism of post-1950 symphonic practice. Collectively, these composers demonstrate how the genre continually negotiates multiple stylistic currents while sustaining its relevance in contemporary art music.

Biography
Magdalini Kalopana serves as Laboratory Teaching Staff at the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

She holds an integrated master’s degree in music studies, a PhD. in Musicology, both by the Department of Music Studies – School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (being a scholar of “A. Papadakis” legacy and the State Scholarships Foundation/IKY), as well a master’s degree “Studies in Education” (Med., 2021, with achievement scholarship) fulfilling considerable research of mixed methodology.

As a Musicologist she has collaborated with the Music Library of Greece ‘Lillian Voudouri; (1996-1997, 2023), the Third (Radio) Program of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation/ERT (1998-2001), the General Secretariat of the Olympic Games – Ministry of Culture (2001-2003), the 6th Biennale of New European and Mediterranean Creators (2003), the Institute of Educational Policy (2019-2022) and the National Centre for Public Administration & Local Government (2021-present). Member of the Editorial Boards of the periodicals Polyphonia (2002), and Corithian Scientific Review (2020), Reviewer of the International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) and columnist for the online critic magazine Critics’ point, serves also as Curator of D. Dragatakis Archive and Friends Society, and as a member of the International Musicological Society / IMS (2016), as well as the Greek one (2024). She has published extensively on Greek Art music and music in education. She has been awarded the GINA BACHAUER-NIKOLAOU DOUBA AWARD 2022 – CATEGORY OF MUSICOLOGY by the Gina Bachauer International Music Association and the Association for the Upgrading of the Historical and Commercial Centre of Athens (19.12.2022) for her monograph, Kalopana Magdalini. Systēmatikos & Vio-Vivliographikos Katalogos Ergōn Dēmētrē Dragatakē [Systematic and Biography-bibliographic Works’ Catalogue of Dimitris Dragatakis]. Athens: Nakas, 2019.

ZSOLT LÁSZLÓFFY
Stele: György Kurtág’s Compositional Technique for Orchestra

Biography
Zsolt Lászlóffy (b. 1973, Cluj-Napoca) is a Transylvanian Hungarian composer, conductor, and musicologist. He studied composition and conducting at the Gheorghe Dima Music Conservatory in Cluj-Napoca, graduating in 1996 and 2000, respectively. Between 1990 and 2003, he participated in numerous masterclasses across Europe, including the Wiener Musikseminar (Austria), Stockhausen-Kurse (Germany), Centre Acanthes (France), Cantiere di Musica Attuale (Italy), and the Bartók Seminar in Szombathely (Hungary).

Lászlóffy earned his doctorate in composition from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest in 2008. Since autumn 2006, he has served as choir director of the Oradea Philharmonic. He has taught at Partium Christian University since 1999, where he currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Music Arts.

His research focuses on twentieth-century harmony theory, while his teaching encompasses theoretical disciplines within the Music Pedagogy program. His work bridges compositional practice, conducting, and scholarly investigation of contemporary musical language

IVANA MEDIĆ
A Very Belated Self-Rediscovery: Dejan Despić’s Late Symphonies

In this paper, I present the symphonic output of Dejan Despić (1930-2024), a notable Serbian composer and Full Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, who was also a long-standing professor of music theory and analysis at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. As a relentlessly prolific composer of essentially neoclassical orientation, during his long life Despić completed about 250 opuses, including one opera, numerous concertos, art songs, choral works, short and long pieces for symphony, chamber, and string orchestras, and over 100 works for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles. Surprisingly, the symphony, as a genre, remained outside Despić’s interest for many decades. He wrote his first Symphony in D minor in 1955 as a graduation piece, and then did not write any symphonies for the next 50 years. And then, in 2006, aged 76, Despić unexpectedly rediscovered in himself an urge to return to this long-neglected genre and wrote no less than six new symphonies between 2006 and 2012 – all of which have remained unperformed to this day. I aim to overview possible reasons why Despić lost interest in symphony early on and then regained it half a century later. Furthermore, I will briefly present the main characteristics of these works and ask a question whether Despić’s belated self-rebranding as a symphonist was necessary at all.

Biography
Ivana Medić is a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Musicology, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, professor at the Department of Multimedia Design, Faculty of Computer Science in Belgrade, and President of the Serbian Musicological Society. She completed her undergraduate and master’s studies in musicology at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade, and received her doctorate from the University of Manchester in 2010. She is a long-standing convener of the BASEES Slavonic and East European Music Study Group (SEEM) and, more recently, of the Royal Music Association’s Music of Eastern Europe and Eurasia Study Group (RMA-MEEE). Ivana has led numerous national and international scientific and art-and-science projects and has served as an expert for the European Commission. She has published five monographs, more than 100 articles and book chapters, and edited 12 thematic collections and 2 catalogues. She has edited or guest-edited several journals, such as Muzikologija-Musicology, Contemporary Music Review, Arts, and Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia. She has received several awards for her outstanding contributions to Serbian musicology.

ISTVÁN POTYÓ
Heritage as Present: The Repertoire of the Saint Michael Ecclesiastical Orchestra and Choir

This study explores the distinctive role of the Saint Michael Ecclesiastical Orchestra and Choir in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in preserving and reinterpreting sacred and symphonic traditions within a contemporary framework. Rooted in the musical life of the city’s central Roman Catholic community, the ensemble continues a lineage that has long integrated major European and ecclesiastical works into local cultural practice. A great example of this tradition can be seen in the Liszt memorial concerts of 1936, where significant works such as Liszt’s Missa choralis, Coronation Mass, Elisabeth Oratorio, and the Tasso Symphonic were performed.

The post-1990 revival marked a decisive renewal, as the ensemble—adopting the name Szent Cecília Kórus és Zenekar around 2005–2006—expanded its membership, institutional support, and artistic scope. Its programming consciously balances the works of pan-European masters with a dedication to regional heritage through projects such as the Musica Transsylvanica series, featuring compositions by Ruzitska György, Farkas Ödön, Szöllősy Attila, and others. Premieres of contemporary sacred works, including Horváth Márton Levente’s Kolozsvári mise and Vajda János’s Te Deum, further illustrate this dialogue between continuity and renewal. Supported by cultural grants and Saint Michael Parish, the ensemble stands as a vital agent in sustaining and reimagining Transylvania’s ecclesiastical musical heritage within Cluj’s vibrant and diverse artistic landscape.

Biography
István Potyó was born in Brașov (Brassó) in 1983 and began his music studies there, earning a cantor’s diploma in 2001. Between 2002 and 2006, he was a university student, initially at the Faculty of Music in Brașov, and later in the Music Pedagogy department at the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy (Conservatory) in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár). From 2002 until the summer of 2004, he served as the cantor at the Franciscan Church in Brașov. Since July 2004, he has been the cantor and choir conductor at Saint Michael Church in Cluj-Napoca.

He studied the art of organ playing under Erich Türk, with whom he co-published the complete organ works of György Ruzitska. Since 2006, he has held numerous concerts in Romania and abroad. In 2009, the Hungarian Choral Association of Romania awarded him the Rezső Zsizsmann Prize. As a conductor, he has presented countless gems of sacred music during liturgies and concerts with the Saint Cecilia Choir and Chamber Orchestra of Cluj, with a special focus on the works of Transylvanian composers. In 2012, he earned a doctoral degree, with his research focusing on Transylvanian sacred music compositions. In 2015, he was awarded the Communitas Foundation Creation Grant, and in 2022, he received the István Nagy Prize from the EMKE (Transylvanian Cultural Society). In 2024, he was accepted into the MMA (Hungarian Academy of Arts) Art Scholarship Program. He is currently the Vice President of the Hungarian Music Society of Romania and is a lecturer at the Faculty of Music of Babeș-Bolyai University (BBTE).

SÓFALVI EMESE
The Symphonic Repertoire of the Hungarian Opera in Cluj

Since its establishment in 1948, the Hungarian Opera in Cluj has always held a complex role in the musical culture of the Transylvanian region. Alongside the national premieres of stage works by local and Hungarian composers (and, of course, the international opera, operetta, and ballet repertoire), a symphonic programme can also be traced. Recent research in the institution’s archives revealed an impressive list of orchestral works performed by the Opera’s musicians. Whether it was a personal aspiration of the conductors to showcase the multi-facetedness of the instrumental ensemble or the dedication to the contemporary and/or local composers, this symphonic repertoire gave both the artists and their audience a new dimension of interpretation.

Biography
Emese Sófalvi is an assistant professor at the Reformed Teacher Training and Music Art Faculty of Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, and a doctoral candidate at the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy. She studied violin performance and musicology in Cluj-Napoca and Budapest, earning her PhD from the Doctoral School of Education at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE).

Her research focuses on nineteenth-century Transylvanian musical life, particularly the careers of prominent composers, performers, and their patrons, as well as the history of local musical institutions, including theatres and conservatories. She publishes in Hungarian, English, and Romanian.

As a recipient of the Hungarian Academy of Arts Scholarship Program, Sófalvi is engaged in identifying and cataloguing previously unknown or inaccessible nineteenth-century Transylvanian musical manuscripts. Alongside her scholarly and pedagogical activities, she maintains an active performance career as a member of the Székelyföldi Filharmónia and first violinist of the Quartetto string quartet.

LEON STEFANIJA
Symphonic Matinees of Jeunesses Musicales Slovenia 1970–1991 and the growing world of world and pop music

The period following the Second World War brought significant advancement in Slovenian symphonic music practice: three professional orchestras were established. Additionally, as a market for children and youth performers emerged, for the first time in Slovenian history, economic attention was also devoted to young people. The Baby Boom generation thus received – not only guitars, keyboards, drum kits, and amplifiers – but also more space on shop shelves and in the media. Furthermore, Jeunesse Musicales of Ljubljana (Glasbena Mladina Ljubljanska, since 1964) and Jeunesse Musicales of Slovenia (Glasbena Mladina Slovenije, since 1969) aimed to promote institutionalized music enculturation among young people.

Gustav Mahler, the master of collage and paraphrase, believed that one must be loud to reach the masses; this idea found fertile ethical and aesthetic resonance in popular music culture – a culture increasingly created by young people for young people. On the other hand, the canonisation of music for young people within the very active Jeunesse Musicales of Slovenia sought to educate young audiences almost exclusively through the classical repertoire.

The situation of music in Slovenia thus leads to two main thematic clusters: institutional and amateur-driven culture. Institutional music practices for young people were embodied in Jeunesse Musicales of Slovenia, while amateur “do it yourself” (DIY) practices characterised youth music-making. Both clusters are important as antinomies and complementary perspectives on music, generating a range of new music practices even in our „post-socialist” culture.

In this paper, I will survey the institutional practice of symphonic music associated with Jeunesse Musicales in Slovenia, discussing its contribution to Slovene symphonic music culture between 1969 and 1991.

Biography
Leon Stefanija (b. 1970, Ljubljana) is a professor of musicology at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. He served as the chair of systematic musicology from 2008 to 2012, and also as the chair of the Department of Musicology from 2008 to 2012.

His main research interests and teaching areas are the epistemology of music research, the sociology of music, and the history of contemporary, primarily Slovenian, music since 1918. He regularly cooperates with the Music Academy in Zagreb, the Faculty of Music Belgrade, the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, the Music Academy in Sarajevo, and the Ballet College in Ljubljana.

He has been granted Prešeren’s Prize of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana (1995), Acknowledgment for teaching and/or research work 2012, and Excellent in Science 2018 for the book Sisyphusartig schön: Porträt des Komponisten (Wien: Hollitzer Verlag, 2018).

MIRELA ȚÂRC
Cornel Țăranu’s Symphonies: Beyond Constraint, Towards Freedom

The symphonies of the Romanian composer, professor, and academician Cornel Țăranu (1935–2022) bear witness to a creative life that spanned two major political regimes —a common trajectory for artists across Eastern Europe. These were the communist/socialist regime and, from 1989 onward, the transitional capitalism that continues to this day. While freedom of expression was severely restricted during the communist era, the symphonic genre offered composers an outlet for less explicit content than that found in vocal or vocal-symphonic works, where the text had to serve the ideology of the time.

Cornel Țăranu belonged to the post-Enescu generation, labeled by musicologists as the “golden generation” of Romanian composition. The four symphonies he composed before 1989 have a content and form that deliberately circumvented the political demands of the era. The composer was fortunate to fully develop his creative voice during a period of relaxation from the artistic constraints imposed by Soviet-style socialist realism in the 1950s. With the boldness of youth, Țăranu wrote his first symphony, Symphony ostinato (1962, dedicated to G. Enescu), using a serial-dodecaphonic language, a technique forbidden and considered bourgeois and decadent by the regime. In the 1960s, with the ideological liberalization and the opening of the country’s borders (following Stalin’s death), Țăranu had the opportunity to study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen. He also attended courses in Darmstadt with György Ligeti, Bruno Maderna, and Christoph Caskel, which opened his horizons to the latest and most innovative aspects of contemporary musical language: integral serialism, punctualism, aleatoricism, graphism (graphic notation), and the exploration of extended vocal-instrumental techniques, among others. The 1970s and 1980s marked a consolidation of his serial-modal avant-garde style, reflected in three large-scale symphonies: Symphony No. 2 Aulodia (1976), Symphony No. 3 Signs (1984), and Symphony No. 4 Ritornele (1987).

The most prolific period for the symphonic genre occurred in the first two decades of the new millennium (2005–2018), when Țăranu composed no fewer than 14 works. These are characterized by a fusion of genres: symphony-concerto-requiem-symphonic poem. This was a period of late syntheses in which the composer integrated postmodern influences, introducing into his serially treated and continuously varied modal-chromatic musical discourse: quotations, orchestrated segments of ancient musical masterpieces, exotic rhythms, and themes treated from a metastylistic, “metanarrative commentary” perspective.

The paper proposes a classification of these works based on theme and genre belonging:

Programmatic Symphonies (in symbiosis with the symphonic poem): Rimembranza (2005), Saramandji (2008), Yang & Yin (2013), Cantus Gemellus (2014), Heraldica (2014), Jeux de Palindrom (2016), Bachiana (2016).

Symphonies-Concertos dedicated to the saxophone: SaxSynpho for solo saxophone and orchestra, Diferencias for baritone saxophone and orchestra, Semper Idem for solo saxophone and orchestra (2015).

Symphonies (in symbiosis with requiem, others): Symphonia da Requiem for choir and orchestra (2005), Symphonia Memorial (2009), Hetero(Sym)phony (2014), Symphonia aforistica (2017/2018).

The paper will also highlight the main features of the musical language in these symphonies, as well as the compositional strategies and techniques that serve a coherent and expressive dramaturgy, through which the composer builds a bridge between modernity and postmodernity.

Biography
Mirela Ţârc (b. 1968, Bucharest) is a musicologist and PhD in Music from the University of Oradea, where she teaches analysis and musical forms, stylistics, aesthetics of the performance, musical phenomenology, and comparative analysis. She published two musicological books: “The articulation of form in the symphonies of the Transylvanian composers during the 20th Century” and “The Crystallisation of the sonata form in the klavier music of the 18th Century” (Oradea, 2007), a “Practical Course of forms analysis” (Oradea 2008) articles, music chronicles, reviews, interviews, musicological studies in magazines like: Muzica, Musicology Works, Intermezzo, Oraşul, Filarmonia, Tribuna, Adevărul, Actualitatea Muzicală, Studia Musica, Euterpe Almanah, I.C.T in Musical Field. She participated, coordinated, and edited many national and international conferences.

JUDIT VÁRADI
Mapping Orchestral Repertoire Transformation in Hungary (1985-2025)

This presentation reports on an ongoing three-year research project examining Hungarian symphonic orchestral repertoire across four decades. The study focuses on the professional operation of symphonic orchestras through systematic data collection. The initial phase analyses three representative ensembles: the Kodály Philharmonic (Debrecen), Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Szombathely), and MÁV Symphony Orchestra (Budapest). This geographic selection enables comparative analysis across eastern, western, and capital-city institutional contexts.

Our comprehensive database captures composer names, work titles, composition dates, genres, performance dates, venues, subscription types, and programmatic positioning. The two-stage validation process ensures accuracy through initial data entry followed by researcher verification. Annual breakdowns track live and online concerts, audience numbers, and domestic versus international performances. The study examines three pivotal transitions: the 1989-90 regime change, the millennium, and post-COVID transformations. By documenting traditional symphonic evenings and youth programming, the research illuminates shifting aesthetic priorities and institutional adaptation strategies, providing empirical foundations for understanding how peripheral orchestral cultures navigate globalized musical discourse while maintaining regional identity.

Biography
Judit Váradi studied at the University of Debrecen, Liszt Ferenc University of Music, and Eötvös Loránd University, where she graduated as a piano teacher, solfeggio teacher, conductor, piano accompanist, tutor, and cultural manager. She received her PhD in 2010 at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland). She has been teaching at the Faculty of Music of the University of Debrecen since 1988 as an associate professor. Since 2016, she has been a lecturer at the Partium University of Oradea. Since 2015, she has been a lecturer and supervisor of the Doctoral Program in Education at the University of Debrecen. They released 2 CDs with their permanent chamber partner, saxophonist Levente Puskás, and in 2021 launched their YouTube channel to support education. Since 2000, she has been the founder and editor of several concert series, the artistic director of the International Summer Academy of Young Musicians, and the artistic director of the Zoltán Kodály World Youth Orchestra.

ÁKOS WINDHAGER
Varietas delectat: Diversity in Levente Gyöngyösi’s Symphonic Works

Levente Gyöngyösi, a composer of my generation, has fulfilled what I dreamt of: he became a composer, writing operas, symphonies, and masses. While numerous contemporary attempts have been made to revive the symphony genre, Gyöngyösi chose the traditional Romantic symphony framework and effortlessly incorporated folk, pop, and classical themes. His orchestral techniques are closer to Tchaikovsky than to contemporary practices, yet the overall effect remains distinctly contemporary. The works are not retro in character, though they actualize nostalgia at numerous points. In the dramaturgy, he builds his symphonies upon the Berlioz-Liszt concept of program music.

Symphony No. I. thematizes the birth, unfolding, and eventual fading of a love story, while avoiding mere illustration. However, in the fourth movement, vocal soloists and chorus enter—a gesture toward the great transformer of the symphony genre. Symphony No. III, titled “Birth” and composed for the Budapest Festival Orchestra, follows the fetus’s journey from conception to birth. Symphony No. IV („On Illés’s [Elijah] Chariot”), created for the 70th birthday of Hungary’s most popular pop music legend Levente Szörényi, represents an intriguing experiment in transforming the famous melodies of the legendary beat band into a symphonic work. A particular curiosity is how it combines Hungarian folk song with Macedonian folklore during the symphonic rewriting of pop music schemas. However, the symphony is not an unplugged concert but an independent orchestral work of intrinsic value.

At the conclusion of my presentation, I will examine Gyöngyösi’s Miskolc Symphony, highlighting the genre’s dependence on conductor and orchestra.

Biography
Károly Ákos Windhager, PhD, comparative literary historian, cultural researcher, PR expert, journalist. Areas of research: history of mythology; the interactions of fiction, classical music, and mass culture; and public readings of art. Since 2006, he has been the artistic director of the Art’s Harmony All-Arts Society. The planned theme of his habilitation is related to the operas of Sándor Szokolay.