Benefit Concerts: Youthful, Fresh & Symphonic – Hungary

Schwyz Cantonal Symphony Orchestra and Rotary Club Ufenau
Conductor: Urs Bamert

SOKS orchestra project for and with young musicians from Schwyz and Roma musicians from the Snétberger Music Talent Center—with the support of the Rotary Club Ufenau

Gustav Holst: St. Paul’s Suite, Op. 29 No. 2, for string orchestra (1913)
Othmar Schoeck: Sommernacht, Op. 58, pastoral intermezzo for string orchestra (1945)
Chamber music interlude featuring two musicians from the Snétberger Music Talent Center:
Béla Lakatos, clarinet, solo in Wollerau and Jona, Louis Cahuzac: Arlequin
Ferenc Nagy, piano, in Jona, Franz Liszt: Étude transcendante S.139 No. 4 “Mazeppa”

Granville Bantock: Scenes from the Scottish Highlands, suite for string orchestra (1914)
Antonín Dvořák’s famous Symphony No. 9 in E minor “From the New World” (1893)

Hosts: Karin Fuhrer and Gabriel Schwyter

For one week, the Schwyz Cantonal Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with the Rotary Club Ufenau, will bring together young musicians from across the canton of Schwyz—from Brunnen to Schwyz —with young Roma musicians from the renowned Snétberger Music Talent Center in Hungary—for an experience of playing together in an orchestra alongside some 50 musicians from the Symphony Orchestra, which is well-known throughout Central Switzerland and on Lake Zurich.

The program ranges from Othmar Schoeck’s Schwyz “Summer Night” to string music by Holst and Bantock with Hungarian “echoes,” features a chamber music solo interlude by two young Roma musicians, and concludes with “grand” symphonic music: Dvořák’s 9th Symphony “From the New World,” one of the most beautiful and beloved orchestral works of the Romantic era, which—for us and for everyone, and in light of world events—is meant to open up “a new world”!

Ferenc Snétberger, who founded and built up the Music Talent Center over 14 years ago, is arguably the best-known and most important Hungarian guitarist today; he performs in major cities around the world and, through an annual course comprising a three-part, twelve-week personalized intensive music training program at Lake Balaton, musically gifted, socially disadvantaged youth—primarily from the Sinti and Roma minority groups in Hungary, Ukraine, and Slovakia. This training focuses on music, but also on personal development and languages. Nearly all students continue their education, and a quarter of them are studying or have studied music at colleges and universities both domestically and abroad. Many of the graduates support the program—passing on what they have learned—by returning as teachers or assistants.

The Rotary Club of Ufenau, together with the Rotary District 2000 of Eastern Switzerland, covers the costs and operation of the entire camp and is actively involved in a variety of hands-on tasks during the camp week and the accompanying tourist program. The Solidarity Ticket in Wollerau includes a pre-concert reception.

The net proceeds from the concerts go to the Snétberger Music Talent Center and, where applicable, to the SOKS youth string instrument support program in the canton of Schwyz.

The concerts are made possible by the generous support of our partners, global sponsors, and soloist patrons:
Cultural Commission of the Canton of Schwyz, Municipality of Wollerau, Asuera Foundation, Markant AG (Pfäffikon SZ), Octapharma Foundation (Glarus), Renate Häusler & Oswald Grübel (Wollerau), Rotary Club Ufenau, Rotary Switzerland District 2000

Further thanks go to (as of June 10, 2026):
Major donors/sponsors:
Höfe District, City & Municipality of Rapperswil-Jona SG,

Sponsors:
Carl & Elise Elsener-Gut Foundation/Victorinox AG (Ibach), Anonymous Foundation, culturum Gabriel Schwyter (Lachen), Pedrazzini Yacht AG (Bäch), Panorama Hotel & Spa (Feusisberg), Schwyzer Kantonalbank, Daniel Heini (Wollerau)

Supporters:
Municipality of Freienbach, Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation, Casino Pfäffikon/Höfe Tourist Association, Association for the Promotion of the Economy and Cultural Creativity/Felchlin AG (Schwyz), Furrer Auto Lachen AG, Landolt Engineering AG (Reichenburg), Brigitte Bamert (Nuolen)

Sponsors:
Flumserberg Mountain Railways AG (Unterterzen), Swiss Southeast Railway AG (St. Gallen), Remo Wüst Bakery + Pastry Shop AG (Wangen SZ), prosiebnen.ch, Tanja Alvesalo (Bäch), Karin Fuhrer (Bäch), Ruedi Honegger (Wollerau)

Media Sponsors: Bote der Urschweiz, Einsiedler Anzeiger, Freier Schweizer, Höfner Volksblatt/March-Anzeiger, Linth-Zeitung


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.

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