NEXT 2025 – Day 5: Štefan Szabó

The festival’s closing concert will feature the premiere of a new work by Štefan Szabó, composed especially for the 1878 organ in the Small Evangelical Church.

Composer, improviser, and curator from Rimavská Sobota. His artistic practice, driven by a strong passion for team sports, ranges between improvised and folk music. He is currently involved in several projects and ensembles, including Ranjevš & Óbasz, Bratislava Improvisers Orchestra, a duo with Adela Mede, and the trio Szabó / Bodnárová / Nosál. In 2023, he released the organ album Clouds and Pulses on the Czech label MA Records, which he is currently developing into a live performance.

He also curates the n:ear festival and co-curates the U Strún concert series.

The album Clouds and Pulses was recorded on historic organs in the Roman Catholic church in Rimavská Sobota and in Kraskov on an instrument from 1810. He is particularly interested in such old organs – for their slightly out-of-tune, distorted sound qualities and subtle textures, such as the “breath of moss,” which become a natural part of the composition itself.