Foundations, the big band suite composed by flugelhorn and trumpet player Kornél Fekete-Kovács was inspired by the philosophy of yoga. The leader of the Modern Art Orchestra created a contemporary music rendition of the first two of yoga’s eight branches, Yamas and Niyamas, in 10+1 compositions. Yamas and Niyamas serve not only as a guide to yogic existence, but also contain concepts familiar to the European mind. Thus, the music is not dominated by elements referring to the East. Instead, it bears the hallmarks of Western contemporary music. In addition to MAO’s members, singer Veronika Harcsa, percussionist András Dés, guitarist Márton Fenyvesi, pianist Béla Szakcsi Lakatos can be heard during the guided improvisations connecting the written compositions.

Kornél Fekete-Kovács has been absorbed in yoga philosophy and practicing asanas in the last several years. In his large-scale work, Foundations – Yamas and Niyamas, however, he did not seek to translate the ancient culture of a distant country into a Western way of thinking, but rather wanted to point out how far we have moved away from a truly valuable and livable way of life. The Modern Art Orchestra’s leader made sure that the qualities found in the text illustrations and the music are reflected through authentic Eastern and Western points of view: whenever János Ávéd plays the bansuri (a bamboo flute), he does not play it as a traditional Indian musician would, just as most of the Sanskrit texts do not sound like their original in Veronika Harcsa’s vocal performance. Foundations seems to be an overflowing stream of music — its form reflecting the Eastern view of existence that the path itself is the goal — while still being highly structured. And the unclear relationship between the text and the music gives the listener the joy of associative-intuitive discovery with each listening.

Lively, snappy, intuitive and captivating: the Modern Art Orchestra is a melting pot for the artistry of highly qualified musicians in Hungary’s classical and jazz scene. Founder, director and lead trumpet player Kornél Fekete-Kovács – a highly engaged musician and arranger who is a regular figure in Hungarian jazz, pop, and contemporary music – created MAO with the dream of a contemporary orchestra playing compositions by some of the best contemporary creative musicians of the country. Since then, the Modern Art Orchestra received masterpieces from composers like Péter Eötvös and has gained the status of an internationally renowned big band that is engaged in many genres including jazz, pop, classical or contemporary ensemble music. MAO has had countless successful projects together with the world’s leading musicians from Bob Mintzer, Dave Liebman or Wallace Roney through Rhoda Scott, Julian Joseph, Mike Garson or Silje Neergard to Mezzoforte, New York Voices or Harlem Gospel Choir – just to name a few.

As leader, soloist and studio musician, Kornél Fekete-Kovács has contributed to more than 100 different records and numerous concerts and prestigious festivals. He was the founder, artistic director and soloist of the Budapest Jazz Orchestra between 1998 to 2005 and since 2005 he has been leading the Modern Art Orchestra. The bearer of several prestigious music awards, Konrél received the 2018 Artisjus Award with his fellow musicians for the album Modern Art Orchestra Plays Bartók released on BMC Records. .