BMC - Budapest Music Center

Description: 
The collective and coordinated presentation of contemporary Hungarian music – the core mission of Budapest Music Center remains the same ever since its 1996 founding by trombonist and academy professor László Gőz. As a concert promoter, record label and information center, BMC actively works on establishing the international recognition of Hungarian and European music.
 
The new home of Budapest Music Center opened in 2013 as a multi-purpose space to serve the original goal with its 300-seat concert hall ideally suited for contemporary and classical music, the state-of-the-art Opus Jazz Club featuring international and local jazz greats, a Music Information Center and Library with a collection of 100.000 items, plus recording studios, rehearsal rooms and guest rooms. BMC is also the proud home of the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation which educates, supports and promotes young conductors, composers, and performers.

Each year, BMC hosts around 400 classical, contemporary and jazz concerts, workshops, lectures, competitions, and artist Q&A’s, complemented by a business event portfolio that includes conferences, press events, meetings, as well as large open-air events.
 
Located inside BMC, Opus Jazz Club presents the most exciting artists and bands from the European and Hungarian jazz scene from Tuesday to Saturday all year round. With its outstanding concert programme, acoustics, and gastronomy, Opus rightfully earns its place among the top European jazz clubs, attracting international jazz fans as well as a wider range of music lovers with an ear for fresh music. Since its 2013 opening, Opus featured such notable artists as Dave Liebman, Irène Schweizer, Vincent Courtois, Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis, Keith Tippett, Aki Takase, Joachim Kühn, Andy Sheppard, Vincent Peirani, Émile Parisien, Leszek Możdżer, Alexander Hawkins, Django Bates, and Theo Bleckmann.
 
Founded in 1998, the catalogue of BMC Records has now reached 300 releases. BMC Records publishes Hungarian and international artists of the contemporary, classical and jazz field. The label’s strategy is to be open towards carrying over traditional musical values as well as to present acts with a new and experimental approach. Through its releases over the years, BMC Records has built up international recognition for a number of Hungarian artists and initiated successful collaboration between Hungarian and international musicians, workshops and orchestras. Jazz albums feature artists such as Thomas de Pourquery, Aki Takase, Daniel Erdmann, Émile Parisien, Théo Ceccaldi, Hans Lüdemann, Sylvain Rifflet, Archie Shepp, Chris Potter, Dave Liebman, Joachim Kühn, and Lionel Loueke. The catalogue also covers the works of the most important contemporary and classical Hungarian composers (Liszt, Bartók, Ligeti, Kurtág, Eötvös) performed by such renowned artists as Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Barbara Hannigan, Tony Arnold, Gábor Csalog, Adrienne Krausz, Ensemble Modern, the Calder Quartet, and the BBC Symphony Orcherstra. Awards by Midem, Jazzman, Deutsche Schallplatten, and Diapason Magazine, as well as over two thousand reviews in the international press signify the fact that BMC Records has become an important European record label. Album releases are available both on CD and in digital format.

Related news

Related clubs

Case studies

Budapest Music Centre's Opus Jazz Club organized an EJN Green Pilot tour in April 2023 in close cooperation with No Earplugs Booking Agency and the Norwegian band (Exit) KNARR.
An interview with Nóra Szalóki, sound engineer, among others, from Opus Jazz Club in Budapest