Balázs Bágyi New Quartet

Balázs Bágyi is a prominent figure on the Hungarian jazz scene - a drummer and composer who has toured extensively across the United States and is the only Hungarian jazz musician to perform regularly in China. His previous quartet operated from 2004 to 2011 and became a significant part of the Hungarian ethno-jazz genre.

The new ensemble, formed in 2013, plays acoustic contemporary jazz with post-bop elements. Alongside Bágyi, the quartet features saxophonist Sándor Soso Lakatos (trained in the Netherlands), pianist Dezső Oláh - a Junior Prima Award winner with classical training - and double bassist Péter Oláh, regarded as one of the most respected players of his instrument in Central Europe.

Over the past decade, the band has performed at numerous European festivals including Bratislava Jazz Days, Jazz Juniors Krakow, Bansko Jazz Festival, Nisville, Mosaic Jazz Fest Sibiu, Sarajevo Winter, Petrovac Jazz Festival and Skopje Summer Festival, and has also played in clubs such as Agharta Jazz Club Prague, B-Flat Berlin and Jazzland Vienna. In 2016, their album "Homage To Shakespeare" won the Gramofon Award presented by an international jury and readers of JazzMa.hu voted them band of the year, with Balázs Bágyi named composer of the year. The ensemble's repertoire consists exclusively of his own compositions.