Already popular for several years, this year the events of the Night of the Organs on May 18 will be held not only in Hungary but in nearly 30 countries over four continents, from South Korea through Japan, Turkey and France via Italy and China to the United States. Rather akin to an attempt to break a Guinness record, the public and Filharmonia Hungary  as organiser will together celebrate first performances and special events featuring the Queen of Instruments!

The aim of the Night of the Organs series of events is to better acquaint everyone with this extremely complex, complicated instrument, each example of which has its own personality. There will be concerts in concert halls and churches accompanied by instruments and voices, but also in interesting venues where the digital version of the instrument can be heard: apart from the capital’s top concert venues there will be other, unexpected places.   Hannfried Lucke and Cameron Carpenter will play the organ at the Academy of Music, while Francesco Finotti can be heard in the Matthias Church. A concert to be enjoyed by the entire family can be heard in the House of Music with Sándor Balatoni at the organ in the company of the Danubia Orchestra.

The Queen of Instruments can also be heard at the Capital Circus of Budapest, the night pool of Harkány Spa, in cinemas, parks, the Budapest Zoo, in front of the National Museum and inside the Budapest Whale Shopping and Cultural Centre. A unique sunset organ concert can also be heard in the middle of Lake Balaton aboard the Szigligeti pleasure boat, which casts off from Balatonfüred; moreover, in Budapest’s Uránia cinema the instrument will accompany a silent film, allowing us to wallow in a little out-of-the-ordinary nostalgia. On this special day the musical fountains of Szeged will erupt to the music of the organ. We encounter the instrument not only in the capital, but in all the large provincial centres of the country and 45 smaller settlements as part of the Petőfi Cultural Program, and the entire country is weaving the Night into some one-hundred other events. It is therefore worth taking a look at the filharmonia.hu website, but by downloading the filharmonia app we can discover every event within a 50km radius.

In the words of Szabolcs Szamosi, managing director of Filharmonia, who initially dreamt the event who is himself an organist, “The event also takes on the role of a kind of cultural exchange programme, with the country's outstanding organists giving concerts around the world, whilst in Hungary foreign performers will also provide extra colour for the numerous events".

Due to the incredible popularity of the event there are only a few sporadic tickets remaining, but it’s still worth looking around among the events.

On no account miss out on this organ experience if you wish to participate in the Night of the Organs: the events inside the concert hall of the Academy of Music will be screened outside the building, while concerts will be streamed on the Filharmonia Hungary website, Vimeo and youtube not only from various Hungarian venues but from Riga, Seoul, Brussels and Paris. Thanks to the cooperation of Liszt Institutes abroad, the Night of the Organs is reaching festival proportions in several cities, among them the Eternal City of Rome and London.

This year, once again a fanfare composed by a Hungarian composer will be the common work of the Night of the Organs, performed at all its venues. The piece, Fanfare Ungarico written by Ádám Balázs, links with the Hungarian musical past in a number of ways. 

The Night of the Organs offers a wealth of experiences for those who wish to be more closely acquainted with this extraordinary and very special instrument; in reaching an annual international status it can be a valuable cultural link with Hungarians abroad, while providing an opportunity for Hungarian performers and this Hungarian music treasure to be performed abroad.

Join us for the Night of the Organs at some of its 150 events.

Aftermovie from the last 5 years