iMAGE:
Mr Mészáros, what gave you the idea for VeszprémFest and where did the motivation come from?

ZOLTÁN MÉSZÁROS:
The original idea behind the VeszprémFest was inspired by the captivating, inspiring atmosphere at Holy Trinity Square - the fortress‘s main square - back in 2002. The aim was to bring a festival to Veszprém that would attract international stars to the Hungarian stage every year. The setting for the stage, a fairly enclosed space with Baroque architecture and the atmosphere of an amphitheatre was reminiscent of a bishop‘s palace thanks to its strong religious elements. The first decade was dominated by music from the genres of jazz, world music, opera and classical music, as well as mellower representatives from the pop music scene. By adding this event to the existing festival of street music, which delights music lovers from across the country, the city of Veszprém intended to secure a place on the festival map at the regional or even international level.

iMAGE:
The VeszprémFest is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Is there anything particularly noteworthy in this year‘s line-up?

ZOLTÁN MÉSZÁROS:
Perhaps that after five years, we have finally brought back opera. During the first ten years we brought seven operas to the stage, but we have not done so for the previous five. When the celebration of our 15th anniversary was made official, we turned back towards this genre - one which is inherently festive.

The musical highlight this year was bringing four artists that we hosted previously back onto the stage together:
Tenor José Cura from Argentina, his partner Ramón Vargas from Mexico and the two Hungarian star sopranos Erika Miklósa and Andrea Rost. A real first, as there had never been a joint production with this composition before.

iMAGE:
Can you think of any other especially memorable moments, or do you perhaps have a small anecdote about a special event?

ZOLTÁN MÉSZÁROS:
There are numerous moments worth mentioning in the history of the VeszprémFest, but because I work in gastronomy and viticulture, among other areas, I‘d love to tell the story of the Gipsy Kings. (Editor‘s note: The Gipsy Kings are a Franco-Spanish flamenco-pop band)

The Gipsy Kings are effectively made up of two families: The Ballardo and Reyes families from the south of France, near Cannes. In 2009 we brought the band to Hungary for the first time with this composition.

An important part of the contract back then was the „Catering Dinner“, which more or less included the stipulations on what meals and drinks the artists wanted in their changing rooms. These French families therefore sent us a list with more than twenty different French wines they wanted to drink. After briefly considering the situation, in our reply we pointed out that the city of Veszprém is next door to several traditional wine regions and - with all due respect to French wine, of course - recommended that they instead sample a range of Hungarian wines and home-made salami and hams.

A few days later, we received a pleasantly surprising response from the French band: „Finally, a festival with guts - let‘s see those Hungarian wines and salami!“ In the end, the Gipsy Kings took several crates of Csopaker white wine and Villányer red wine home with them!

iMAGE:
Do you think that the VeszprémFest has had a cultural or social impact on the development of the city and region?

ZOLTÁN MÉSZÁROS:
That‘s clearly the case. There is already an obvious issue in that the accommodation available in the city can‘t satisfy demand during the festival. Of course, we stress time and time again that the festival grounds are very easily accessible from the banks of Lake Balaton as well.

During the festival, all the hotels in the region are fully booked and all the restaurants ramp up their services. Several hundred local companies and around 300–400 employees - mostly from Veszprém itself - are called upon, which makes the direct economic impact quite clear. However, I‘m of the opinion that indirect factors are more important.

For example, there is competition between the surrounding urban areas. The towns around Veszprém endeavour to made themselves more attractive and develop their own image. This is why the underlying idea of putting our small city on the international cultural map is so important. A great example in this respect is last year‘s VeszprémFest. I received an e-mail from the director of a company based in Veszprém, in which he explained that his international partners would think of the city of Veszprém very differently if he mentioned it in the same breath as the stars that perform here - stars like Tom Jones and Diana Krall.

iMAGE:
How important do you think the mutual cooperation with the local companies is?

ZOLTÁN MÉSZÁROS:
In my opinion, the mutual cooperation is crucial. Around 40% of the festival budget comes from sponsorship money, including from local companies.

These companies are based in Veszprém or elsewhere in the region and I have the feeling that they are proud of the festival we hold in the city.

This is another reason they are generous when it comes to funding. Of course, all the staff employed by these companies receive free tickets. Besides the commercial interest, however, I frequently sense a high degree of social responsibility as well.

iMAGE:
How is the line-up for the VeszprémFest put together? Are there requests and audience suggestions or is the line-up fixed in advance?

ZOLTÁN MÉSZÁROS:
Of course, the public consistently send us a large number of ideas and we work together with advisers who positively bombard us with names of potential stars.

We also have our own wishlist of artists each year. It‘s important to bear in mind which musicians are on tour in Europe during the month we hold the VeszprémFest, and how we can coordinate with them accordingly.

Europe is one of the biggest markets for festivals worldwide.

For example, Ziggy Marley joined us for this year‘s 15th anniversary from Vienna, and subsequently continued on to Slovenia. All the other artists did something similar.

iMAGE:
Could you conclude by briefly summarising your future plans with regard to the next VeszprémFest for us?

ZOLTÁN MÉSZÁROS:
An important goal for us is to be able to present an even larger, both regionally and internationally renowned festival by the time our 20th anniversary comes around. In addition to the História Garden, we want to keep the fortress as one of our venues and establish another area for around 600–800 further spectators. This would mean having five or even six stages in future, as opposed to our current two or three. That would allow for even greater cultural diversity. However, a few things are still needed before we can achieve this, such as investment in the city, financial resources or perhaps even a successful application to make Veszprém the European Capital of Culture in 2023...

iMAGE:
Mr Mészáros, thank you for the fascinating interview and we wish you every success with the 16th VeszprémFest next year!