Nikolett Pankovits - Magia (2016)

Nikolett Pankovits Sextet & The River Voices concert with jazz improvisations and Latin American rhythms brought the sound of Hungarian folk music to life on May 20 at the world-famous Carnegie Hall in New York. The main source of inspiration for the large-scale musical production with the participation of eighteen artists is the Hungarian folk music of unparalleled richness. During the evening, authentic Hungarian folk music was performed in its original sound and orchestration, on the other hand, Hungarian folk songs were spiced with Latin American rhythms. The framework of the performance was given by the Hungarian folk music dialects defined by Béla Bartók, some elements of which were connected by the actor Ádám Boncz with poems translated into English by Hungarian poets. The producer of the evening was known from Hungarian television, today he was an American producer, Dorottya Máthé.

The evening went full house at Carnagie Hall, with the audience standing up and applauding the performers for a long time, though this is not customary in America. The company received huge accolades not only from the Americans, but also from a large number of American Hungarians and foreigners who appeared at the concert. Many were so fascinated by the unparalleled musical experience that they wanted to travel to Hungary. The youngest fan at the concert was 4 years old, who listened to the concert in amazement, but there were also Hungarian children born in America who had just heard Hungarian folk music for the first time. At the reception following the performance, in view of the great success, the folk trio played one more addition. Photos from the evening of Tímea Jaksa can be viewed here.

Nikolett Pankovits, a Hungarian-born New York jazz singer, dreamed up his new repertoire with Colombian-born guitar virtuoso Juancho Herrera after his debut album 2016, the highly successful Magic. The aim of The River Voices choir, founded by Nikolett, is to process and present the musical traditions of the five Hungarian folk music regions. Just as rivers connect distant lands, cultures, Hungarian communities in Hungary and beyond, so The River Voices seeks a repertoire and soundscape that connects landscapes, transcends borders and genres. The members of the choir are Laura Angyal, Réka Bányai, Kinga Cserjési, Boglárka Goldea-Raksányi, Kata Harsáczki, Ildikó Nagy and Artemisz Polonyi.

Ádám Boncz began his career as an actor and theater producer and manager at the Szeged National Theater, then lived in New York for many years, where he starred in films and theatrical plays, played a theatrical adaptation of Imre Kertész's Fatelessness. Imre Kertész gave permission to Ádám Boncz. Ádám Boncz lived in New York, where he also organized American and international theater productions in Europe. His film ‘Watch Me’ won the Grand Prix at the Roxy Underground Film Festival in New York this year. In the spring of this year, he moved home to Szeged and organized various international productions from Hungary.