We began 2026 with an international tour, taking part as resident orchestra in the prestigious Cartagena Music Festival. With a history of more than twenty years, the festival is one of Latin America’s most important classical music events, welcoming world-class artists and ensembles each year to Cartagena’s historic venues.

As resident orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra gave six concerts, primarily at the Teatro Adolfo Mejía and in the Veracruz Hall of the Four Seasons Hotel. In these performances, István Várdai appeared both as conductor and soloist.

Our concert programmes offered audiences a broad journey through classical music, from the Baroque period to key works of the Classical and Romantic eras. The repertoire included chamber-scale works and major concertos by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Grieg and Chopin.

During the festival, we were joined by internationally acclaimed soloists Simon Zhu, Alena Baeva, Leticia Moreno, Xavier de Maistre, Santiago Canon Valencia, Silvia Careddu, Elisabeth Brauss, Andrea Lucchesini and Gabriele Strata.

Several of our Cartagena concerts were broadcast live, allowing international audiences to follow the performances online as well as in the concert hall. You can watch the recordings here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t42NCYroIgE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE1K6wvANOM

Photos from the tour are available in our gallery .