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Orban, Bartok and the national question
ANGUS REID interrogates the many contradictory faces of nationalism through the lens of classical concerts in Edinburgh
House of Music in Budapest designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, opened in 2022 [Lessormore/CC]

IN the 1930s the composers Bartok and Kodaly both wrote music for children and created an education programme for musical instruction in all the primary schools of Hungary.

The Budapest Festival Orchestra, co-founded in 1983 by Ivan Fischer, who still leads it, have an astonishing record of community service: autism-friendly concerts, “community weeks” of free concerts, and projects for disadvantaged children.

So, how does this humanitarian ethos translate into performance at the Edinburgh Festival?

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