Proms 2026 Kurtág’s ‘Kafka Fragments’ (Bristol)

Part song-cycle, part personal diary, at once a duet and a duel between soprano and violin, György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments is a collection of musical aphorisms – an armful of miniatures that both provoke and defy interpretation. Fragile and hauntingly lyrical, violent and sensual, these distilled works – few of them longer than a minute – explore the strange kinship between composer and author in music haunted by the ghosts of Bach, Bartók, Schumann and more. Celebrated Finnish musicians Anu Komsi and Sakari Oramo perform this intimate recital as part of the composer’s 100th-birthday celebrations.

There will be no interval

Recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3

Performed at the Bristol Beacon

Anu Komsi © Maarit Kytöharju