Signs, Games and Messages

"Every note he writes is essential. There is never the idea of small talk. For him, only the truth matters, the essential: you can never lie when making music." — Heinz Holliger, oboist, composer, and friend of Kurtág.

György Kurtag, the last giant of 20th-century classical music, turns centenarian in 2026. SPECTRA sprinkels musical flowers in a unique tribute concert in which Kurtág's Signs, Games and Messages — a timeless, still-evolving cycle of musical aphorisms — is the common thread.
Kurtág's music is surrounded by that of his own musical heroes and examples - Bach, Webern, Bartok, Kodaly - as well as music from the 21st-century inspired by the Hungarian master.
With the iconic aria from Bach's Goldberg Variations this musical journey begins, meandering through solos, duos, trios and a creation for quartet before culminating again in that same aria that sounds so much richer because of the journey travelled.