Genre: concert
Ensemble: Pál Mácsai and Alexandra Balog
Venue: House of Music Hungary, Concert Hall
Duration: 1.5 hours
Available to watch: 2026.10.22. 19:00 - 2026.11.03. 23:59 (CEST)
Language: Hungarian
With a purchased ticket, the concert can be watched from 2026.10.22. 19:00 to 2026.11.03. 23:59 (CEST), as a recording!
Love and death have been among the main themes of art since the dawn of history. On the eve of All Saints’ Day, as winter approaches and thoughts of mortality shape our moods, the music of Chopin, Schubert and Brahms, along with the poetry of Dezső Kosztolányi, Attila József, Ernő Szép, Sándor Weöres, Ottó Orbán and György Petri, bear witness to the fact that we are not alone in our anxieties, fears and pain. On this evening, guided by pianist Alexandra Balog and actor Pál Mácsai, we can journey through the stages of the soul, from grief to consolation, through poetry and music.
Alexandra Balog was born in Budapest in 1994. She began playing the piano in 2003 and was later admitted to the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music, where she studied in the classes of Erzsébet Belák and Zoltán Fejérvári. From 2014 to 2019, she studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she was a student of Ian Fountain. In 2017, she received the Royal Academy of Music’s Frederick Jackson Scholarship, and in November of the same year she won the Béla Bartók International Piano Competition in Graz. In 2020, she was awarded the Talentum Hungaricum Scholarship, and in 2023 she received the Junior Prima Award. In 2023, she graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she studied with Markus Schirmer; she is currently a Fulbright Scholar at Bard College in New York. She performs regularly in Hungary and abroad, and in 2025, among other engagements, she gave a solo recital at Carnegie Hall.
Pál Mácsai was born in 1961. He graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in 1984 with a degree in acting, and in 1990 with a degree in directing. He was a member of the companies of the Pinceszínház (1978–79), the National Theatre (1983–89) and the Madách Theatre (1989–93). From 2001 to 2004, he was artistic director of the Madách Kamara; from 2004 to 2025, he was director of the Örkény Theatre. From October 2012, he starred for three seasons in Therapy, an original Hungarian HBO television series. He has been named a Meritorious Artist and is a recipient of the Kossuth and Jászai Mari Awards.
The concert was recorded on October 31, 2025, in the Concert Hall of the House of Music Hungary.
Dear Visitor, We kindly inform you that during the event, photographs, audio recordings, and/or video recordings may be taken. By attending the event, you consent to the recording of such materials through your implied conduct.
