Hungarian Cultural Center New York Presents GLASS HOUSE ORCHESTRA & MUZSIKÁS, 6/17-18

Following last year's thrilling debut at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Kennedy Center, the Hungarian Cultural Center New York is pleased to announce the return of the international supergroup Glass House Orchestra, led by Grammy Award winning trumpeter Frank London. This time they are joined by the legendary Hungarian folk music group Muzsikás for a trio of concerts in New York City, Washington, D.C and Ottawa, Canada.

The two groups will headline one of the flagship musical events of Kulturfest NYC, presented by the National Yiddish Theatre, on Wednesday, June 17 at 8:00 p.m. at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, after which they will travel to Washington, D.C. for an encore performance at Sixth & I on Thursday, June 18 at 8:00 p.m.

They will also travel to Ottawa, Canada to perform at the Canadian Museum of History on Monday, June 15 in an invitation-only event presented by the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa.

The Glass House Orchestra features a diverse group of eight radical and traditional virtuoso musicians from Budapest and New York, who have joined together to explore the rich multi-cultural music of Hungary, spanning the ancient to the future.

Trumpeter and artistic director Frank London is the bandleader. He describes the ensemble as "Astro-Hungarian folk punk" and will be joined on stage by four New Yorkers: Aram Bajakian, the lead guitarist for the late Lou Reed's band; Pablo Aslan, a giant of Argentinian jazz; Yonadav Halevy, one of Israel's best known jazz drummers; and Jake Shulman-Ment, a Brooklynite ethnomusicologist and world class klezmer fiddler. Three standout Hungarian artists complete the group:Miklós Lukács, the most important innovator of the cimbalom/tsimbl of the past years; world music phenomenon singer/violinist Edina Szirtes Mókus; and one of the most multi-faceted performers on the jazz-ethno-experimental scene, Béla Ágoston.

Complete bios for all members are available here.

The Glass House Orchestra grew out of a project initiated by the Hungarian Cultural Center New York in spring of 2014 to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust in Hungary. The ensemble seeks to present an image of the incredibly complex legacy of Jewish Hungarian culture, while also attempting to mark out a space for this legacy in the present, both in Hungary and the world over. The ensemble is named after the Glass House or Üvegház, the famous building (one among 76) designated as a safehouse by Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz during the Holocaust in Hungary, which sheltered and saved the lives of thousands of persecuted Jewish Hungarians.

More information about the Glass House Orchestra, including the historical and ethnomusicological origins of the project can be found by reading the original press release from April 2014.

Muzsikás are world music royalty. When they take the stage, as they have been for four decades, an unparalleled dedication to skill and tradition shines through, interlaced with true outlaw mentality. In this double-bill with Glass House Orchestra, they take their Hungarian Jewish collection from Transylvania, unearthed through exacting research and years of fieldwork in the smallest of villages, and present the Maramaros material with the outstanding singer Ágnes Herczku, soloist of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble.

Mihály Sipos founded the group Muzsikas with his two friends, Dániel Hamar and Sándor Csoóri. He became the "primás" (lead violin) of the band. Besides the violin he plays the "citera" in Muzsikás. He is the artistic director of most of the concerts and recordings, and he is the coordinator between Muzsikás and the guest musicians. He is joined by László Porteleki, who became a member in 1996, and plays the violin, lute and contributes vocals, as well as Péter Éri, who plays the viola, the three-string "kontra", mandolin and various kinds of flutes. Dániel Hamar rounds out the quartet with double-bass and percussion instruments.

Muzsikás pioneered the global popularity of Hungarian folk music that is now a well-established niche in the roots and world music scenes. Due to their unique musical skills, instrumental knowledge and musical versatility, they can play in different music scenes, collaborating with a variety of noted musicians and groups, from folk and world-music to classical and jazz, and even to alternative rock music.

Muzsikás have performed at major concert halls and festivals including the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Center and Queen Elisabeth Hall in London, Théatre de la Ville and Cité de la Musique in Paris, Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Among the various prizes, they were awarded the most respected Hungarian State award for artists, the Kossuth Prize, the Prima Primissima Award and in 2008 they received the prestigious WOMEX Award for World Music. In 2011 they appeared at the Royal Festival Hall in the concert-series of Infernal Dance organized by the Philharmonia London Orchestra, which honored composer Béla Bartók. In the 2012 concert season they received a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall with their program, The Routes and Roots of Bartók, together with the pianist András Schiff.

Photo Credit: Tomasz Labedz