Biography
The Modern Art Orchestra operates as a twenty-piece Hungarian big band and ongoing workshop for musicians, established in 2005 in Budapest by trumpeter and composer Kornél Fekete-Kovács, who continues to direct its activities. The group pursues an expansive vision that merges contemporary classical music with jazz, fostering original works by its own members while pushing both idioms beyond conventional limits. Its 2009 debut, Eclectic Path, presented nine freshly composed jazz pieces interpreted via the intricate harmonic language of modern classical composition and forward-leaning improvisation. The 2013 release Zene Hajó spotlighted vocalist, comedian, and television host Hajós András. Globally praised, the 2018 album Modern Art Orchestra Plays Béla Bartók: 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs included guest David Liebman and reached audiences across multiple continents. Foundations: Yamas and Niyamas arrived in 2020 with iconic Hungarian jazz and pop vocalist Veronika Harcsa, while 2021’s Dedications consisted solely of pieces written by Fekete-Kovács. In 2024 the ensemble issued The Peacock (Tribute to Zoltán Kodály), pairing the composer’s choral compositions performed by the Kodály Chorus with specially selected MAO material.
Five musicians handle the rhythm section on piano, drums, percussion, guitar, and double bass, while fifteen horn players cover saxophones, trombones, tuba, French horn, trumpets, and flugelhorn, with many members doubling instruments. The tightly drilled ensemble delivers swinging jazz marked by the close-knit interplay of a chamber ensemble. Its roster draws from leading figures in Hungarian jazz, among them saxophonist and composer Kristóf Bacsó, trumpeters Gábor Subicz and Fekete-Kovács, and pianist Cseke Gábor. Through the MAO Masterclass Academy the orchestra regularly commissions fresh big-band scores from emerging composers.
Following years of rehearsal and live work, the band entered the studio and issued Eclectic Path in 2009 on the Budapest Music Center label; the recording reveals the imprint of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, and the intricate arrangements associated with Don Ellis and Stan Kenton. French publication Jazzman offered enthusiastic commentary, and Gramofon awarded the album a five-star classical review. Extensive touring occupied the ensuing years until the musicians reconvened late in 2012, resulting in ZeneHajó on Hungary’s Magneoton imprint in 2013, fronted by András Hajós, previously known as the frontman of Emil.RuleZ!. The next project, Circular: Modern Art Orchestra Plays Kristóf Bacsó, earned widespread notice from both jazz and classical writers and supported transatlantic performances over several seasons. Mind’s Ear followed, centering Subicz’s compositions, and Tribute to Stephane & Django appeared later that year, drawing on material by Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt with guests violinist Roby Lakatos, guitarists Andreas Varady and Biréli Lagrène, and drummer Niek De Bruijn.
Subsequent activity yielded László Dés: The Villamosa of Desire, a score devised for Marianna Venekei’s ballet drawn from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. At the same time the orchestra produced the widely recognized MAO Plays Bartok: 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, an album illustrating the continued resonance of Béla Bartók’s legacy; the original piano works were orchestrated by the MAO collective while retaining the composer’s structures and motifs, with transitional and solo sections contributed by Fekete-Kovács, Subicz, Bacsó, and János Ávéd. Guest soloists on the recording comprised internationally celebrated jazz vocalist Veronika Harcsa, American saxophonist David Liebman, Hungarian saxophonist Mihály Dresch, multi-instrumentalist László Gőz, and cimbalom virtuoso Miklós Lukács. The same year saw Winding Road (Plays the Music of Szabolcs Oláh), honoring guitarist and composer Szabolcs Oláh, a founding member who maintained ties with the group, especially in performance. Four albums appeared in 2019: Contemporary Music, featuring works by Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Péter Eötvös; The Fruit of the Spirit, devoted entirely to Ávéd’s writing; Music a'la Pangea, highlighting violinist Edina Szirtes’s folk-infused pieces; and Beat in Space, composed and arranged by pianist Gábor Cseke in mainstream jazz idiom.
Foundations: Yamas and Niyamas from 2020 set traditional sources alongside Fekete-Kovács’s own pieces, which he conducted while contributing trumpet and electronics; soloists included Harcsa, pianist Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, guitarist and electronic musician Márton Fenyvesi, and percussionist and electronic musician András Dés. The album garnered international acclaim and remains the orchestra’s most widely embraced recording, though Swingin’ on the Danube, built on trombonist and multi-instrumentalist Attila Korb’s compositions, also emerged that year. Dedications appeared in 2022, presenting Fekete-Kovács’s works that reference earlier jazz composers and movements, followed in June by the digital release Solar Crisis: MAO Plays the Music of Daniel Varga, spotlighting the young Hungarian saxophonist whose fluid approach encompasses post-bop, jazz-funk, psychedelia, and R&B. European and North American tours occupied 2023, after which the ensemble prepared its most ambitious project yet, The Peacock (Tribute to Zoltán Kodály), conceived as a companion to the Bartók album and realized in collaboration with the Kodály Chorus through interwoven original and historical repertoire.
Five musicians handle the rhythm section on piano, drums, percussion, guitar, and double bass, while fifteen horn players cover saxophones, trombones, tuba, French horn, trumpets, and flugelhorn, with many members doubling instruments. The tightly drilled ensemble delivers swinging jazz marked by the close-knit interplay of a chamber ensemble. Its roster draws from leading figures in Hungarian jazz, among them saxophonist and composer Kristóf Bacsó, trumpeters Gábor Subicz and Fekete-Kovács, and pianist Cseke Gábor. Through the MAO Masterclass Academy the orchestra regularly commissions fresh big-band scores from emerging composers.
Following years of rehearsal and live work, the band entered the studio and issued Eclectic Path in 2009 on the Budapest Music Center label; the recording reveals the imprint of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, and the intricate arrangements associated with Don Ellis and Stan Kenton. French publication Jazzman offered enthusiastic commentary, and Gramofon awarded the album a five-star classical review. Extensive touring occupied the ensuing years until the musicians reconvened late in 2012, resulting in ZeneHajó on Hungary’s Magneoton imprint in 2013, fronted by András Hajós, previously known as the frontman of Emil.RuleZ!. The next project, Circular: Modern Art Orchestra Plays Kristóf Bacsó, earned widespread notice from both jazz and classical writers and supported transatlantic performances over several seasons. Mind’s Ear followed, centering Subicz’s compositions, and Tribute to Stephane & Django appeared later that year, drawing on material by Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt with guests violinist Roby Lakatos, guitarists Andreas Varady and Biréli Lagrène, and drummer Niek De Bruijn.
Subsequent activity yielded László Dés: The Villamosa of Desire, a score devised for Marianna Venekei’s ballet drawn from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. At the same time the orchestra produced the widely recognized MAO Plays Bartok: 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, an album illustrating the continued resonance of Béla Bartók’s legacy; the original piano works were orchestrated by the MAO collective while retaining the composer’s structures and motifs, with transitional and solo sections contributed by Fekete-Kovács, Subicz, Bacsó, and János Ávéd. Guest soloists on the recording comprised internationally celebrated jazz vocalist Veronika Harcsa, American saxophonist David Liebman, Hungarian saxophonist Mihály Dresch, multi-instrumentalist László Gőz, and cimbalom virtuoso Miklós Lukács. The same year saw Winding Road (Plays the Music of Szabolcs Oláh), honoring guitarist and composer Szabolcs Oláh, a founding member who maintained ties with the group, especially in performance. Four albums appeared in 2019: Contemporary Music, featuring works by Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Péter Eötvös; The Fruit of the Spirit, devoted entirely to Ávéd’s writing; Music a'la Pangea, highlighting violinist Edina Szirtes’s folk-infused pieces; and Beat in Space, composed and arranged by pianist Gábor Cseke in mainstream jazz idiom.
Foundations: Yamas and Niyamas from 2020 set traditional sources alongside Fekete-Kovács’s own pieces, which he conducted while contributing trumpet and electronics; soloists included Harcsa, pianist Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, guitarist and electronic musician Márton Fenyvesi, and percussionist and electronic musician András Dés. The album garnered international acclaim and remains the orchestra’s most widely embraced recording, though Swingin’ on the Danube, built on trombonist and multi-instrumentalist Attila Korb’s compositions, also emerged that year. Dedications appeared in 2022, presenting Fekete-Kovács’s works that reference earlier jazz composers and movements, followed in June by the digital release Solar Crisis: MAO Plays the Music of Daniel Varga, spotlighting the young Hungarian saxophonist whose fluid approach encompasses post-bop, jazz-funk, psychedelia, and R&B. European and North American tours occupied 2023, after which the ensemble prepared its most ambitious project yet, The Peacock (Tribute to Zoltán Kodály), conceived as a companion to the Bartók album and realized in collaboration with the Kodály Chorus through interwoven original and historical repertoire.
Albums
