Cidnay Festival

_____

Cidnay Festival & Academy is an event that promotes musical excellence, of an international character, and inspires the community and younger generations through music.

Cidnay Festival affirms a holistic vision, providing musicians and audiences with undeniable moments of musical subtlety, accompanied by time for relaxation and meditation, time to visit local cultural and environmental heritage, and time for sharing and debate, relating music with the life of the community, from different spatial and chronological contexts.

Thus, Cidnay Festival & Academy assumes CONTACT as its core concept. Contact between musicians, artists, between professors and academists, between participants of different latitudes, with other expressions and artistic languages, with fields of knowledge and experiences complementary to music, with a variety of audiences, partners, between presential and digital. This way, we fulfill the purpose of offering an inspiring program, rich in content, that positions itself as an obligatory stop-off point for the most talented musicians.

© Carlos Vilela

ACADEMY FACULTY 2024

_____

Born in 1975, László Fenyő has belonged to the world elite of cellists since he won the International Pablo Casals Contest of 2004 in Kronberg, Germany. He is hailed as one of today’s most exciting artists by his audience and critics. Possessing the unique capability of presenting the intentions of the composer, he captures and fascinates his audience. Through his breathtaking technical skills and emotive expressiveness, his concerts become special experiences, where the music can be newly explored with each concert.

In the last few years László Fenyő has performed on the most renowned stages throughout the world, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London or the Gasteig in Munich. He has been soloist with orchestras such as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr- Sinfonie Orchester), the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Christchurch Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sinfonietta Cracovia. He has performed many times with conductor Krzysztof Penderecki.

In Hungary, his home country, László Fenyő has long been one of the most sought after soloists; his performances – solo recitals, chamber music events and concerts with orchestras, are broadcast live and recorded by the Hungarian Radio. He has played with most Hungarian orchestras and conductors. In addition, in 2005 he received the highly coveted Franz Liszt Prize awarded by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture, as well as the Junior Prima Prize in 2008.

László Fenyő began his musical education in Hungary. Already at the age of 13 he became a junior student with Professor László Mező at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Later, while continuing his studies in Lübeck with Professor David Geringas, his brilliant technique, secure sense of style, and his unusually broad repertoire, brought him several prizes at important competitions. Among them, the International Music Contest in Geneva, the Rostropovich Contest in Paris, the Adam Cello Contest in Christchurch, and the Contest of the Hungarian Radio in Budapest. After completing his studies, he decisively extended his musical horizons under the tutelage of Bernard Greenhouse.​

László Fenyő gives master courses all over the world, from 2009 until 2011 he was a lecturer at the Academy of Music and Fine Arts in Frankfurt and from April 2012 he teaches as a professor at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe. László Fenyő has been principal cellist of the Philharmonia Hungarica 1998-2001 and of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony from 2001 until 2012.

The CD´s, which he recorded and released in the past few years, are „Gloria“ by Sony with Gábor Boldoczki and Hedvig Bilgram, chamber music with pianist Oleg Poliansky by Aulos/Musikado, and the cello concertos of J. Haydn (D Major) and D. Shostakovich (No. 1) accompanied by the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), conducted by Grant Llewellyn, as well as an Enjott Schneider Portrait-CD with the German Radio Orchestra Berlin and Ariel Zuckermann.

László Fenyő plays a cello made by Matteo Goffriller from 1695.

_____

Hungarian born violist Máté Szücs has had a career as an award winning soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player.

Máté was principal viola in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 2011 to 2018 where he also appeared as a soloist playing the Bartók Viola Concerto in September 2017.

Máté was seventeen when he switched from the violin to the viola and graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Royal Conservatory of Flanders in Antwerp with the highest distinction. He further undertook a session at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Waterloo, Belgium where he obtained his diploma, also with the highest distinction.

Máté was eleven when he won the Special Prize of the Hungarian Violin Competition for Young Artists. Not much later he won First Prize of the Violin Competition of Szeged (Hungary) and the First Prize for the Best Sonata Duo of the Hungarian Chamber Music Competition. Since then, he has won First Prize at the International Violin and Viola Competition in Liège in Belgium, as well as finalist of the International Viola Competition “Jean Françaix” in Paris and Laureate of the International Music Competition “Tenuto” in Brussels.

As a chamber musician, Máté has been a member of various chamber ensembles including the Mendelssohn ensemble; Con Spirito piano quartet, Trio Dor, Enigma Ensemble and “Fragments” ensemble. He has worked with prominent musicians such as Janine Jansen, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Repin, Ilja Gringolts, Vladimir Mendelssohn, László Fenyő, Kristof Baráti and István Várdai, Camille Thomas, Kirill Troussov and Julien Quentin.

In addition to performing solo with the Berlin Philharmonic, he has soloed with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, the “Bamberger Symphoniker”, the “Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden”, the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra and at the “Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen”., where he was as well principal viola.

Máté is also a sought after pedagogue. Since the summer of 2006 he has been a regular professor at the “Thy Masterclass” chamber music summer festival in Denmark and between 2012 and 2014 was also teaching at the Britten-Pears Festival in Aldeburgh, England. He has taught two years at the University of Music in Saarbrücken, between 2014 and 2018 at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, between 2015 and 2018 at the “Hanns Eisler” University of Music in Berlin and between 2015 and 2016 the Music Academy of Budapest.

Máté gives masterclasses all over the world including New York, Los Angeles, Michigan, London, Berlin, Brussels, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo.

Since 2018, he has been the Professor of Viola at the Geneva University of Music in Switzerland.

In 2020 he got his PhD Diploma and became Doctor of Arts.

SANTO TIRSO

at Cidnay Festival's core

_____

Santo Tirso is a city located 25 km from Porto and Guimarães. The nearest airport is less than 20 km away and there are good railway and road connections available. Still from a geographic point of view, the city is located in a point of transition between the Atlantic coast and the inland part of the north of the country.

The historical origins are related with the existing monastery, founded (or rebuilt), during the 10th century, by the Benedictine monks. Santo Tirso has held the title of county seat since 1834, keeping a current population of about 70,000 inhabitants. Economically, the textile and clothing industries are well implanted in this region. In terms of areas of interest worth being mentioned, we cannot ignore the Ave river and the countless waterfalls, as well as natural parks and forests, thermal baths, and tourism farms. Additionally, you can also find Romanesque and Baroque monuments, local handicrafts, attend popular festivals and taste the local gastronomy and wines as well as the conventual sweets.

San Rosendo, who spent the last part of his life as a bishop in the already notorious cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (968-977), and was the founder of the Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova, which stimulated culture and the development of Christian kingdoms at the threshold of the year thousand, was born in the territory of Santo Tirso, in the current parish of São Miguel do Couto.

© Carlos Vilela

The quality of life in Santo Tirso is undeniably good and this idea is reinforced by the substantial cultural offer available. Amongst the existing cultural organizations, we can highlight MIEC - International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture (➥ more), Alberto Carneiro Art Center, the Municipal Museum Abade Pedrosa (with a vast archaeological collection), the Municipal Historical Archive, the Municipal Library, the Interpretative Center of the Monte Padrão (Archaeological Station), ARTAVE - Artistic Professional School and countless other schools. In addiction, there are also spaces of exhibition and enjoyment, such as the Fábrica de Santo Thyrso and its Nave Cultural, or the Vila das Aves Cultural Center, together with sporting facilities and nature related activities.

Santo Tirso can also be proud of having a living heritage of musical ensembles, folklore and theater groups, dance academies, numerous local cultural spaces and festivities. There are several plastic artists who were born or currently reside in this city, amongst whom we name Tomaz Pelayo and José Cavadas, in addition to a vast group of great photographers. On this website, you can take a look at some beautiful shots by Carlos Vilela.

Santo Tirso hosts, annually, an International Guitar Festival, an International Organ Festival and regular International Cello Masterclasses, promoted by the Franz Schubert Foundation.

➥  Location