Újstílus Ensemble A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

Once upon a time there was an orchestra which would have been thirty-five this year. An orchestra that never split up, but one that we don’t hear about these days. They were the first to play the finest pieces from the virtuoso repertoire of Feri Csipás, famed violinist from Kalotaszeg, thanks mainly to the superb technique of Csaba Ökrös. They chose the name of the orchestra when in 1983 they received an invitation from the US to make a recording. Their choice (in English ‘New Style’) refers to the new stylistic stratum of Kalotaszeg tunes. Although the image of the ensemble was basically determined by archaic Transylvanian string music, the name stuck. Csaba Ökrös was succeeded by other violinists; first by the outrageously young Balázs Vizeli, then by Tamás Gombai. Today we know Vizeli from the Kossuth Prize-winning Vujicsics band, and Gombai from Szalonna and his Band. The formation were joined by a new member in the mid-1980s, a singer who, contrary to the practice of orchestras playing folk music at that time (Muzsikás, Téka, Ökrös), was male. The intervening years have proven that the revolutionary decision was a correct one, because the new member was none other than András Berecz. The group, which dispersed in different directions, come together again for this evening, recalling the dance house movement of the 1980–1990s, stage programmes of dance ensembles of the time, the American tours, and the atmosphere of recordings made before the takeover of digital technology.