{"id":602,"date":"2026-07-22T16:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/?p=602"},"modified":"2026-07-22T16:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:57:09","slug":"a-return-to-his-roots-the-festival-opens-where-liszts-grandparents-once-lived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/a-return-to-his-roots-the-festival-opens-where-liszts-grandparents-once-lived\/","title":{"rendered":"A Return to His Roots. The Festival Opens Where Liszt&#8217;s Grandparents Once Lived"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"festival-article\">\r\n\r\n  <header>\r\n\r\n    <p class=\"intro\">\r\n      Some music festivals begin with a story&#8230;\r\n    <\/p>\r\n  <\/header>\r\n\r\n  <p>\r\n    The inaugural edition of the Franz Liszt Festival \u2013 festival3cities will open on 16 October 2026 in a place that represents one of the lesser-known chapters of the composer&#8217;s life.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p>\r\n    The opening concert will take place in Rusovce, a village where Liszt&#8217;s grandparents lived and where several generations of his family remained until the end of the 19th century.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <section>\r\n    <h2>The Festival&#8217;s Opening Concert Will Take Place at the Church Where Liszt&#8217;s Grandparents Were Married<\/h2>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      This will be much more than a concert. The festival&#8217;s opening event will symbolically bring Franz Liszt back to his family&#8217;s roots while commemorating a place that played an important role in the history of the Liszt family.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The concert will be held at St. Mary Magdalene Church, where Liszt&#8217;s grandparents, Barbara Schlesak and Georg Adam Liszt, were married in 1775.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n  <\/section>\r\n\r\n  <section>\r\n    <h2>Music in the Places That Shaped Liszt&#8217;s Story<\/h2>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The Franz Liszt Festival was founded with the ambition of bringing music to places where it acquires a deeper meaning\u2014not only to concert halls, but also to locations intrinsically connected with the composer&#8217;s life. Rusovce is one of those places.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      In the historic setting of St. Mary Magdalene Church, audiences will experience works by Franz Liszt alongside music by other distinguished composers, performed in a space that forms part of his family&#8217;s history.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The unique combination of music, history and an authentic location transforms this evening into an unforgettable cultural experience unlike any other.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n  <\/section>\r\n\r\n  <section>\r\n    <h2>A Memorial Plaque Restoring Historical Memory<\/h2>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The festival&#8217;s ceremonial opening will also include the unveiling of a memorial plaque on the house where Franz Liszt&#8217;s grandparents and other members of his family once lived.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      For the first time, this permanent memorial will highlight Rusovce as an integral part of the life story of one of the greatest figures in the history of music.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The festival&#8217;s ambition reaches beyond presenting concerts. It seeks to rediscover forgotten historical connections, celebrate places of cultural significance, and restore them to Bratislava&#8217;s collective cultural memory.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n  <\/section>\r\n\r\n  <section>\r\n    <h2>A Landmark Occasion for Rusovce and Bratislava<\/h2>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The opening of the festival will also mark a significant occasion for the local community of Rusovce.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The municipality is preparing to rename its local School of Arts in honour of Franz Liszt, ensuring that his name becomes a lasting part of community life and an inspiration for future generations of young musicians.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n\r\n    <p>\r\n      The Franz Liszt Festival connects the past with the present and the future. It honours a composer who forever shaped the history of European music while drawing attention once again to the places where his family&#8217;s story began.\r\n    <\/p>\r\n  <\/section>\r\n\r\n  <div class=\"article-links\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/program\/\" class=\"btn\">\r\n      View Festival Programme\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a\r\n      href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketportal.sk\/NEvent\/Franz-Liszt-Fest?idpartner=1540\"\r\n      target=\"_blank\"\r\n      rel=\"noopener\"\r\n      class=\"btn\"\r\n    >\r\n      Buy Tickets\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/article>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some music festivals begin with a story&#8230; The inaugural edition of the Franz Liszt Festival \u2013 festival3cities will open on 16 October 2026 in a place that represents one of the lesser-known chapters of the composer&#8217;s life. The opening concert will take place in Rusovce, a village where Liszt&#8217;s grandparents lived and where several generations&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/a-return-to-his-roots-the-festival-opens-where-liszts-grandparents-once-lived\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A Return to His Roots. The Festival Opens Where Liszt&#8217;s Grandparents Once Lived<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/festival3cities.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}