International Meeting of Liszt Memorial Houses and Festivals in France

Our director, Zsuzsanna Domokos represented the Museum on 26-27 October at the Festival of Lisztomanias of Chateauroux, France. Part of the one-week event was an international meeting of Liszt museums and festivals venues.

The most prestigious representatives from the host’s side were François-Roger Cazala festival director, Nicolas Dufetel Liszt scholar, Alain Rechner president of Lisztomanias International, Michèle Naturel director of the Bertrand Museum Chateauroux, Jean-Yves Clément the art director of the festival, Gil Avérous the mayor of the city, Jean-Yves Ugon and Jean-Yves Cousin.

The meeting was a follow-up of the event initiated and launched by the Hungarians in September 2016 – with the aim to establish future multilateral cooperation amongst the institutions and memorial sites related to Franz Liszt. The most recent program was the second Liszt Festival and the international meeting of the Liszt Museums organized in July 2018 in the town of Schillingsfürst, where colleagues from Raiding, Weimar and Bayreuth were also among the guests.

On this occasion in Chateauroux Raiding was represented by Dr. Martin Czernin Liszt scholar, head of department at the Landesmuseum Eisenstadt and Manfred Fux, president of the Raiding Liszt Society. Schillingsfürst was represented by Fürst Constantin Hohenlohe zu Schillingsfürst and Hans Emmert and Bologna by Prof. Rossana Dalmonte head of a Fondazione Istituto Franz Liszt. Also among the guests were Maurizio d’Alessandro, founder and director of the Albano Liszt Festival and Federico Paci the art director of the Grottammare Festival. The Utrecht Liszt Festival was represented by Rob Hilberink. On 26 October the guests introduced the institution they represent, with a slide show and on the next day the French hosts organized a panel discussion. They agreed to support the setting up of a European Cultural Liszt Tour. If the tour sets off, the memorial places will organize all kinds of Liszt related events that will enhance international ties between the houses and festival venues.

The Liszt Museum’s next important event is on 5 January 2019 when an exhibition of the works of Reiner Grunwald from Schillingsfürst will open in the main building of the Liszt Academy. Among the guests will be not only the colleagues from Schillingsfürst, but from Raiding as well. The Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum will open its next temporary exhibition Liszt in Austria in May in cooperation with Dr. Martin Czernin. Representatives of Schillingsfürst and Nicolas Dufetel from France are planning to attend the opening ceremony. In fall 2019 Raiding will host an international conference along with the tableau version of the periodic exhibition from 2014 entitled Liszt’s ideas on Fine Arts. We hope to continue our cooperation.