Jorma Panula Masterclass

5th Jorma Panula International Conducting Masterclass, 22–27 June 2026

From 22 to 27 June 2026 the Kecskemét Symphony Orchestra is organising an international conducting masterclass led by the world-famous Finnish conductor and teacher Jorma Panula. Conductors of any age may apply to the masterclass. Based on the submitted videos, Maestro Panula will select up to 10 active participants. Each active participant can spend at least 110 minutes on the podium, where they have the opportunity to work with a full symphony orchestra. The orchestra rehearsals are video recorded, and the Maestro analyses the recordings together with the participants in the afternoon sessions. The selected active participants will have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience at the closing concert on 27 June in the main hall of Hírös Agóra. Passive participation in the masterclass is also possible, based on advance registration. Passive participants can follow the orchestra rehearsals and the afternoon video sessions from the lecture room, and receive a ticket to the closing concert. The language of the masterclass is English.

Professor Jorma Panula

Jorma Panula was born in Finland in 1930. Between 1963 and 1965 he was conductor and artistic director of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, between 1965 and 1972 of the Helsinki Philharmonic, and between 1970 and 1973 he held the same position with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. He also regularly conducted at the Finnish National Opera. As professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Maestro Panula established the institution’s international reputation in conductor training between 1973 and 1994. During his career, conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Osmo Vänskä emerged from his class. He has also taught as a professor at the Royal Academies of Music in Stockholm and Copenhagen. He regularly gives masterclasses around the world, including in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, the United States and Japan – and now in Kecskemét. Jorma Panula studied church music and choral conducting at the Sibelius Academy. His teachers were Leo Funtek, Dean Dixon, Albert Wolff and Franco Ferrara. Besides conducting he is also an acclaimed composer. His operas, Jaako Ilkka and River Opera, established the genre of “opera performance”, which embodies a blend of music, visual art and the art of everyday life. Panula’s other compositions include musicals, church music, a violin concerto, a jazz capriccio and numerous vocal pieces.

Huba Hollókői – organiser, assistant teacher

Huba Hollókői is an internationally award-winning conductor and violinist. Since 2022 he has been artistic director of the Kecskemét Symphony Orchestra. As a conductor he has worked with numerous symphony orchestras. His partners include the Netherlands Philharmonic, the Residentie Orchestra, the Noord Netherland Orchestra, the Dutch Ballet Orchestra, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, the Danubia Symphony Orchestra, and the Miskolc and Győr Symphony Orchestras. In 2017 he made his debut at the Concertgebouw as conductor of the Philharmonie Südwestfalen. Hollókői regularly performs with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, the Joensuu City Orchestra and the Filarmonica Mihail Jora Bacău. His soloist partners have included Barnabás Kelemen, Minna Pensola (violin), Zsuzsanna Bartal, Janne Mertanen, Balázs Fülei, Viniciu Moroianu, Oana Csiky (piano), Stefan Danifeld, Ionut Podgoreganu (horn) and Hugo Manzanilla Victoria (clarinet).

Huba Hollókői is a sought-after opera conductor; many of his productions have received excellent critical acclaim, including Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Rigoletto, several Mozart operas, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and the Finnish premiere of Cesar Cui’s children’s opera Puss in Boots. As an opera director he made his debut with Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. He has conducted dozens of contemporary music premieres at the “Iubiți Muzica Româneasca!” festival in Oradea, the “Intrada” festival in Timișoara and with the UMZE Ensemble in Budapest, and he also prepared the premiere of Monique Krüs’s opera Anne Frank.

Venue:

Hírös Agóra (HA)
Kecskemét, Deák Ferenc tér 1
6000
Hungary

Repertoire:

Mozart: Così fan tutte – Overture
Klami: Nummisuutarit – Overture
Beethoven: Coriolan – Overture
Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri – Overture
Lars-Erik Larsson: Pastoral Suite
Sibelius: Valse triste
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7

Schedule:

22 June 2026

– 08:00 Registration, Hírös Agóra (HA), foyer

– 09:00–13:00 Orchestra rehearsal with the conductors, video recorded – HA, main hall

– 13:00–14:30 Lunch break