In György Kurtág’s works tradition is not just processed or incorporated experience, but much more than that: constant inspiration, often acknowledged even in the titles, that together with his individual voice and personality has already made his music a classical example of contemporary music.

Between September 19th and 26th a week of concerts and musicology lectures in the Cité de la Musique, Paris, will offer an insight primarily into the links between Kurtág’s music and that of Bach, but in the background of this portrait the faces of Schumann, Webern and Bartók will also appear. In addition to concerts by the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Keller String Quartet, the Wiener Klaviertrio and Pierre-Laurent Aimard the festival will also be given distinction by the personal presence of the composer. Together with his wife Márta he will play a selection of solo and four-hands movements from his Játékok and his own Bach transcriptions, and he will hold a master course in which he will teach Beethoven and Bartók string quartets to young musicians.