IN PARI – Dance and Music #2: Josef Nadj, Mezei Szilárd, Márkos Albert

◖ IN PARI – Dance and Music #2: Josef Nadj, Mezei Szilárd, Márkos Albert ◗ IN PARI is a series in which music enters into a marriage with different art forms – as equals, in pairs, as the series title suggests. This time – following five evenings focusing on the connection between music and text, and four evenings exploring the relationship between music and image – music and dance become intertwined in parity for the second time. The movements of Josef Nadj, a pioneering dancer and one of the major figures of contemporary dance, who works primarily in France, are paired with the music of violist Szilárd Mezei and cellist Albert Márkos. As is customary in the IN PARI series, the performers are preparing for improvisation and will respond to each other’s performances. The dramaturgy of the evening is shaped by a reciprocal exchange of influences; by the end of the performance, we will have the impression that the art forms existed on an equal footing, rather than in a subordinate, superior or supplementary relationship. The curator of the IN PARI series is Albert Márkos. ========================= Josef Nadj (József Nagy) was born in Magyarkanizsa, in the territory of present-day Kanjiža, into a Hungarian-speaking family. After studying fine art at the predecessor institution of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest, he moved to Paris, where he studied mime and discovered tai chi, butoh and contemporary dance. As a dancer, he performed in productions by, among others, Sidonie Rochon, Mark Tompkins, Catherine Diverrés and François Verret. As a choreographer, dancer, visual artist and photographer, Josef Nadj approaches humanity with a poetic and passionate outlook, while constantly seeking new forms of expression. The singularity of his artistic vision stems from his creative journey, which has been profoundly shaped by the turning points and upheavals of European history. His pioneering, bold and innovative approach made him a defining figure in contemporary dance as early as the 1980s. Since Canard Pékinois (1987), regarded as his seminal work, he has consistently pursued choreographic work of high artistic quality and passion. Whether staging the worlds of unconventional authors such as Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka and Henri Michaux, or inviting visual artists such as Miquel Barceló and musicians such as Akosh Szelevényi and Joëlle Léandre onto the stage, Nadj always strives for complete artistic freedom. In his works, he combines a wide range of references, signs and materials in order to awaken our senses. Balancing on the boundary between reality and the dreamlike, tradition and modernity, he explores humanity’s most fundamental question: its relationship with itself. Josef Nadj is the creator of more than thirty works, which have been presented in nearly fifty countries. He has been a guest at numerous major international events, including the Festival d’Avignon, the International Chekhov Festival and the Prague Quadrennial. Over the years, his works have become defining creations in contemporary dance. Between 1995 and 2016, he was the artistic director of the Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans, and in 2017 he founded his new company, Atelier 3+1, in Paris. Alongside continuing his choreographic research, this new creative framework gives him the opportunity to once again place visual art at the centre of his stage-based and body-centred work. In recognition of his artistic achievements, in 2002 the French state appointed him a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2011 he was promoted to the rank of Officier. Since 2021, Josef Nadj has once again placed dance at the centre of his creative work: it was then that he presented two major choreographic works, the performances OMMA and Full Moon. ========================= Szilárd Mezei is a composer, violist, double bassist and improvising musician. He was born in 1974 in Senta, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), as a member of the Hungarian minority in the multi-ethnic region of Vojvodina. He studied violin in Senta and Subotica, and studied composition for four years at the Academy of Music in Belgrade, in Professor Zoran Eric’s class. With his ensembles, he performs contemporary composed and improvised music, mostly his own compositions. As a composer, Mezei’s main area of interest is the relationship between improvisation and composition (similar to Witold Lutosławski’s aleatory techniques and Anthony Braxton’s creative musical methods), also incorporating elements of jazz and authentic folk music. As a musician, he follows in the footsteps of Bartók and György Szabados. He is also active as a theatre composer, including with Josef Nadj. More than 60 of his CDs and LPs have been released by international labels such as Leo Records, Not Two, Creative Sources, Aural Terrains, Red Toucan, Ayler Records, Slam Productions, No Business, FMR, AUT Records and Odradek Records. To date, he has played with musicians and improvisers including Matthias Schubert, Róbert Benkő, György Szabados, Tim Hodgkinson, Albert Márkos, Peter Ole Jörgensen, Jens Balder, Joe Fonda, Michael Jefry Stevens, Joelle Leandre, Hamid Drake, Herb Robertson, Frank Gratkowski, Charles Gayle, Sten Sandell, Joel Grip and Nicola Guazzaloca... He has more than 500 registered compositions for various line-ups. In addition, his body of work includes several symphonic works, chamber orchestra and chamber works, and concertos. He is also active in theatre music, having composed music for more than 60 theatre productions, and has twice won Serbia’s most important theatre award, the “Sterija” Award, as well as numerous awards for his theatre music. His writings on music have appeared in numerous journals in former Yugoslavia and Hungary. ========================= Albert Márkos is a composer and cellist, and one of the defining figures of Hungary’s improvised, contemporary, applied and experimental music scenes. The Cluj-Napoca-born musician is also recognised as a film composer and composer of theatre music, is a member of numerous jazz and contemporary music ensembles and projects (Kassák, ARGO, budbudās, W.H. Shakespeare, Tractus, etc.), and is the composer of countless contemporary music works. He is the editor of the IN PARI series. ========================= 🌏 Venue: House of Hungarian Music, Auditorium 📅 Date and time: 30 October 2026, 19:00 MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMME: https://zenehaza.hu/esemeny/in-pari-tanc-es-zene-2 For sold-out concerts, check our official secondary ticketing partner, TicketSwap! You can find tickets there that were purchased earlier but are now being resold, at fair prices and with complete security. Unfortunately, fake profiles offering non-existent tickets often appear on Facebook – instead, always choose TicketSwap! https://www.ticketswap.hu/location/magyar-zene-haza/169122 Visit the House of Hungarian Music website for current concerts and information!