On 19 February 2026, Hungarian composer György Kurtág turns 100 — a rare milestone for one of the most singular musical voices of the last century. Reserved yet uncompromising, intimate yet devastatingly expressive, Kurtág has shaped contemporary music not through monumental output but through concentration: fragments, miniatures, whispered gestures, and a relentless search for truth in sound.
Often associated with the legacy of Webern and deeply marked by Bartók, Kurtág forged a language of extreme compression, where a few notes can carry existential weight. Works such as Kafka-Fragmente, Játékok, and …quasi una fantasia… have become landmarks of late 20th-century repertoire, while his opera Fin de partie — premiered at La Scala in 2018 when he was 92 — revealed a late flowering of dramatic power.
As he reaches his centenary, institutions across Europe and the United States are marking the occasion with concerts, premieres, lectures and special events.
Centenary concerts around the world
Budapest — Müpa
At Müpa Budapest, the celebrations span 18–20 February under the banner Kurtág 100.
The programme includes a screening of the documentary Kurtág Fragments and an English-language panel discussion with Víkingur Ólafsson, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Benjamin Appl and director Dénes Nagy.
On 19 February, the official birthday concert features Víkingur Ólafsson performing Kurtág’s works with the Danubia Orchestra. The concert will be streamed live on STAGE+, making the celebration accessible worldwide.
On 20 February, Concerto Budapest presents a further tribute concert including a world premiere.
Full programme details:
Müpa Budapest – Kurtág 100
STAGE+ livestream
Paris — Philharmonie de Paris
At Philharmonie de Paris, the concert Ascendances – Kurtág 100 takes place on 19 February in the Studio. Soloists from the Ensemble Intercontemporain join mezzo-soprano Jenny Daviet in a programme that places Kurtág alongside Bartók, Ligeti, Liszt, Schumann and Veress — tracing a lineage of Hungarian and European modernism.
More information:
Philharmonie de Paris – Ascendances
New York — Juilliard
In New York, Juilliard School marks the centenary with AXIOM, its contemporary music ensemble led by Jeffrey Milarsky, at Alice Tully Hall on 19 February.
The programme explores Kurtág’s musical voice and includes a Juilliard commission: a tribute by student Vincent Zhang. A pre-concert lecture forms part of the celebration.
Event details:
Juilliard – AXIOM: Kurtág @ 100
Amsterdam — Muziekgebouw
At Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, the concert Happy 100, György! brings together Het Muziek (formerly Asko|Schönberg), soprano Katharine Dain and percussionist Joey Marijs under Gregory Charette.
The programme mixes Kurtág’s own works — including selections from Játékok and Lebenslauf — with Ligeti’s Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes and three world premieres inspired by the number 100.
More information: Muziekgebouw – Happy 100, György!
Germany — Klavier-Festival Ruhr
Although taking place slightly later, on 22 February, the concert Die Welt des György Kurtág at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr further extends the centenary celebrations.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard — one of Kurtág’s closest collaborators for decades — joins soprano Anna Prohaska and violinist Isabelle Faust in a programme spanning all phases of the composer’s career.
The event includes lectures by musicologist Ulrich Mosch and Aimard himself, reflecting on their longstanding artistic partnership with the composer.
Details:
Klavier-Festival Ruhr – Die Welt des György Kurtág
A composer of inner worlds
Few composers have so radically redefined musical scale. Kurtág’s miniatures demand total concentration from performers and listeners alike. His music inhabits silence as much as sound; it resists excess and theatricality, yet it can erupt into raw emotional intensity.
At 100, he remains a reference point for generations of performers and composers — proof that modernism can be both rigorous and profoundly human.
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