Chris Rufo has written a long report on the discovery of Hungary by the Western right.Continue reading
“If much of the West’s cultural output today is marked by an intense sense of embarrassment that it should even exist as art – let alone say anything as art – the Hungarians could not be prouder of their hefty, uncompromising contributions to high culture,” writes Igor Toronyi-Lalic, editor of The Spectator.
Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra will perform four times in Edinburgh, as well as at the premiere of György Kurtág’s operatic adaptation of Beckett’s Endgame, and go on a six-date tour in August. After the immensely successful debut tour of the UK in June last year, the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra UK, Ireland Tour 2023, will be opening the season in September.
The high-minded riches of Magyar musical life will be hard to avoid.”
If some of their wisdom rubs off, it will not be the first time the Hungarians have come to the rescue of western culture,” the author continues, who believes that “Hungarian culture is living through a golden age.”
“Art is very important for the government,” explains violinist and conductor András Keller, music director of Concerto Budapest.
Even Fischer, who is no fan of the government, admits that “probably yes, Orbán has been good for culture,” says Toronyi-Lalic. He “has increased funds,” says Keller, and introduced a policy where a percentage of VAT must go to culture.
“[The arts get] 1.2-1.4 percent of GDP, which is more than the EU’s average,” adds Keller. It is also a staggering 56 times higher, percentage-wise, than the Arts Council England budget.
When Toronyi-Lalic raises the point that many in the West think Orbán’s Hungary is fascist, Keller replies that “This is not true. I must refuse this sentence. You arrived yesterday. What was your impression? I advise everyone who is saying this please to come here and look around you… I am not saying that everything is perfect here in politics. But the people are absolutely free to say what they want,” he writes.
The author of the article said that, apart from strong state support, talent, and a “Martian mindset,” perhaps things are thriving in Hungary because
Hungarians have retained a profound affection for the intrinsic necessity and beauty of art-making that (he is not sure) any artist today in the West would have the guts to express.”
Featured image: Facebook/BFO – Budapest Festival Orchestra