Harp and Flute: CSS–HU Advent Charity Concert

Event Overview

Join Common Sense Society (CSS–HU) for an Advent chamber music concert with harpist Ms. Anastasia Razvalyaeva and flutist Ms. Anna Rákóczy at the CSS Andrássy Salon as we prepare for Christmas and the holidays.

Doors open at 6:00 P.M., and the concert starts at 7.00 P.M., lasting about one hour. A light festive dinner will be served afterwards.

Please note that this event is for members and alumni only. The dress code is festive.

Not a member yet? Consider becoming a member of Common Sense Society–Hungary. If this is your first CSS–HU event and want to get to know us, you are welcome to join for a teaser.

Charity Cause: The CSS MUSE Program

Music is central to CSS–HU’s mission in the realm of beauty. As the late Sir Roger Scruton put it, music “gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything”. The roots of classical music run deep in Hungarian culture, and the country is also home to groundbreaking innovations in music pedagogy hallmarked by teachers like Zoltán Kodály or Klára Kokas.

This is why Common Sense Society–Hungary launched the Music for Everyone (MUSE) program, a charitable initiative targeting young and talented music students of modest backgrounds. The MUSE program offers rural Hungarian music school students (age 12-18) a multi-day talent development program in Budapest, during which they receive training in classical music interpretation and skill development, and practice methodology with acclaimed teachers and musicians. The trip to the capital will include music therapy sessions, a visit to the Opera House, an introduction to the Scrutonian approach to music, as well as enriching meetings with music-loving CSS–HU members and students of the Liszt Academy of Music. The program will conclude with a concert at the Andrássy Salon by the students.

This holistic program is intended for individuals with or without ambition to pursue a music career. It intends to convey the message that classical music can be central to peoples’ lives regardless of profession—as a hobby, recreation, or therapy.

Ms. Zsófia Bódi, professional classical singer and music therapist, serves as the advisor to the talent development program.

How can I support MUSE?

Donate — Visit our Donate page for wire transfer details. Please write “Donation – MUSE program” as a reference.

Make a non-monetary contribution — Do you have another idea to offer support for the program? Contact us to share your idea!

Featured Musicians

Ms. Anastasia Razvalyaeva is a harpist who divides her time between performing and teaching. She was born in Russia, but her family moved to Hungary in 1993, where she began learning the harp with her mother, Natalia Gorbunova. As a soloist, Ms. Razvalyaeva has performed with several Hungarian orchestras, but she also enjoys collaborating with composers and participates in numerous contemporary projects such as Duo SeRa saxophone and harp duos or commissioned pieces. Her experimental trio project with jazz musicians, Veronika Harcsa and Márton Fenyvesi, released an album, Debussy NOW! in 2021 by the BMC Records. She actively organizes cultural events, concerts, and masterclasses for young Hungarian harpists, teaches at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and the Szent István Király Music High School, and serves as the artistic director at the International Harp Competition in Szeged, Hungary. She earned her M.A. at the Liszt Academy in Budapest in 2011 and her D.L.A. in 2019, writing her thesis about 20th century and contemporary solo harp repertoire. Among her achievements are national and international solo and chamber music competitions, and acknowledgements such as the Junior Prima Award (2011), the Fischer Annie Scholarship (2015), and the UNKP Scholarship (2022).

Ms. Anna Rákóczy is a flutist and founding member of the Metrum Ensemble which has appeared on stages in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Montenegro, Armenia, Austria, and Switzerland. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at the Tonhalle Zurich, BMC, Hungarian Radio, Liszt Academy, TRAFÓ, FUGA, among others. Her collaborations with renowned contemporary composers such as Barnabás Dukay, Ádám Kondor, Marián Lejava, József Sári and László Sáry have resulted in Hungarian and foreign premieres and recordings of numerous solo and chamber works. As chairman of the board of trustees of the In-Spiral Art Foundation, she co-organises the minifestival “Encounters on the Path” at the Monastery of St. Mauricius in Bakonybél, Hungary. Ms. Rákóczy graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music under Zoltán Gyöngyössy and earned a Scholarship of the Hungarian Republic and a Fulbright Scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University where she completed her M.A. in flute with distinction in 2004. 

Music Program

1. G. Fauré: Piece (Adagio molto tranquillo)
2. J-P. Rameau: La Dauphine
3. J-P. Rameau: L’Egyptienne
4. G. Binchois: Dueil angoisseus
5. B. Dukay: egymásban megosztva karácsonyt élni létszerelmes csenben társsal, folytatással – hangszeres korálmotetta és double
6. J-P. Rameau: Le Rappel des Oiseaux
7. J-P. Rameau: Les Cyclopes
8. J-P. Rameau: La Marais rondo
9. G. W. Gluck: Dance of the Blessed Spirits
10. M. Ravel: Piéce en forme Habanera
11. M. Ravel: Deux melodies hebraiques
12. G. Fauré: Impromptu op. 86
13. G. Fauré: Sicilienne op. 78