Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Orban, Bartok and the national question
ANGUS REID interrogates the many contradictory faces of nationalism through the lens of classical concerts in Edinburgh
House of Music in Budapest designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, opened in 2022 [Lessormore/CC]

IN the 1930s the composers Bartok and Kodaly both wrote music for children and created an education programme for musical instruction in all the primary schools of Hungary.

The Budapest Festival Orchestra, co-founded in 1983 by Ivan Fischer, who still leads it, have an astonishing record of community service: autism-friendly concerts, “community weeks” of free concerts, and projects for disadvantaged children.

So, how does this humanitarian ethos translate into performance at the Edinburgh Festival?

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Brrr by Hayley Earlam / Pic Brian Hartley
Follow the Movement / 24 August 2026
24 August 2026

MATTHEW HAWKINS looks at some of the Edinburgh Festival dance offerings

winstone
Interview / 19 August 2026
19 August 2026

Chris Searle speaks to jazz vocalist NORMA WINSTONE

Mujician
Books / 3 June 2026
3 June 2026

CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician

rani
Music Review / 2 December 2025
2 December 2025

WILL STONE witnesses an experimental piano concerto inspired by the work of a young Jewish victim of the Nazis