Altalena New Music Days

What happens when the musical worlds of Budapest and New York meet in a Manhattan loft? On December 3–4, ALTALENA New Music Days brings together Hungarian and American composers and performers for two days of concerts and conversations exploring the connections between new music, science, and spirituality, all in an intimate, informal setting.

The festival sets out to revive New York’s Downtown loft culture, the artist-run spaces of the 1960s and ’70s where composers, performers, and audiences shared the same room. Each day is called ESTE, Hungarian for “evening,” a nod to the legacies of Béla Bartók and György Ligeti and the traditions of Hungarian new music.

Info: Máté Bella: Stardust (piccolo, piano)
György Ligeti: Musica ricercata (excerpts)
Christopher Cerrone: New Addresses

Info: Evening Talk: Neuroscience and New Music

Info: Dániel Dobri: crash, Máté Bella: Airambulum, Christopher Cerrone: Why Was I Born Between Mirrors. The Ask the Composer! talk-show series has become a distinctive platform for contemporary classical music in Hungary, with a growing international presence since its launch in 2021. Over the past seasons, the series has appeared at several major European venues, including the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Grand Hall of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.

Now, the interactive concert-talk format arrives in New York City, offering audiences a wide-ranging introduction to different generations and stylistic approaches within contemporary Hungarian and American composition.

During these unique evenings, the concert stage transforms into a living musical laboratory, where audiences are invited to actively engage with composers’ ideas, inspirations, and creative processes.

Event venue & nearby stays

Casa Clara, 218 East 25th Street, New York, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.

Get the app →

Discover more events by tag