After a ten-year hiatus, Hungary is once again hosting a prestigious international ballet competition, organised by the Hungarian Dance Academy for four days between 21 and 24 November.

Two trumpets at the same time? Now that’s a party! Gábor Boldoczki and Sergei Nakariakov arrive in mid-December bearing an ideally timed sonic gift in advance of the lights of the upcoming Christmas holiday.

The Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun’s landmark opera blends Eastern philosophy with the language of Western music. This is the first time the work will be heard in Hungary, and it will be conducted by the composer himself. Set in the 7th century, it tells the story of the passionate love of a Japanese prince and a Chinese princess, and of their fateful quest for the legendary The Classic of Tea by Lu Yu.

Jakub Józef Orliński is one of the most exciting performing artists of our time.

Just like buildings, pieces of music are constructed from small component parts. From sounds, and from tones, obeying the universal laws of music – and sometimes breaking them. But how are the building blocks of music assembled? In what way do individual instruments and solo parts support and complement each other?

Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61

A tbiliszi születésű Giorgi Gigashvili sokáig álmodni sem mert zongoraművészi karrierről, mégis az elmúlt években sorra nyerte a nemzetközi versenyeket, kezdve a vigói megmérettetéssel, ahol idolja, Martha Argerich volt a zsűrielnök.

Elgar Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84

A fiatal portugál muzsikusok által Amszterdamban alapított Maat Saxophone Quartet bármit játsszon a fadótól az új zenéig, az egyéniség nem hiányozhat produkciójukból. Az egyebek mellett Portugália és Hollandia legrangosabb zenei versenyein is győzelmet arató együttes már két lemezt is kiadott, a kritika pedig rögtön az elsőről azt írta: „ígéretes, ördögien jó és mennyeien ragályos” .

A Journey Through the Realm of the Pipes

Jazzbois first burst onto the scene at the 2017 Müpa Budapest Jazz Showcase. By 2023, they were hosting Kaláka as guests at the Festival Theatre, and, a couple of years later, they were conquering major international festivals: the Leverkusener Jazztage, the Montreux Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, and the Montreal Jazz Festival, to name but a few. Jamie Cullum also dedicated an entire BBC radio show to the band, including a conversation with Viktor Sági.

The Kossuth Prize-winning pianist János Balázs was 13 when he was accepted to the Liszt Academy of Music's Special School for Exceptional Young Talents in 2002. By the time he finished at the university, he had racked up victories at six international piano competitions.

Together with her internationally successful early music ensemble, L’Arpeggiata, harpist and theorbo-player Christina Pluhar are renowned for fashioning each and every concert programme out of a unique project. For this occasion, they have chosen one of the greatest masterpieces from the Baroque opera literature:

Why is the 400-year-old story of Romeo and Juliette, the world’s best known romantic tragedy, still so relevant today? Because love is eternal, the rebelliousness of youth persists, and the world is still filled with inexplicable contraditions.

Wandering Gypsies leading adventurous lives and gallant yet ridiculous nobles abusing their power are the main characters of the animated film Szaffi. This adaptation of Mór Jókai's classic novel The Gypsy Baron is by now familiar to several generations of Hungarians.

This programme is like a lavishly laid festive table set in the heart of Krakow: behind the dishes lie deep emotions, rich tradition and special musical seasonings. It kicks off with Stanisław Moniuszko’s fabulous fantasy overture, which combines a pinch of romance and a helping of fairy dust with lots of dramatic magic.

Elgar: Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82
Britten: Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 6

The Japanese singer-songwriter Ichiko Aoba, who is also recognised as a music publisher and acclaimed film composer, creates enchanting, ambient folk-pop songs that explore the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Her latest album, Luminescent Creatures from 2025, is considered one of the year’s most celebrated releases.

Veronika Harcsa’s response to the relentless growth of AI: IA, that is, InterAction.

In the original language, with Hungarian subtitles.

The discussions before and after the screening will be conducted in Hungarian.

In 2000, Lars von Trier broke free from the Dogme 95 movement he had helped create, and immediately won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

What makes the Mass in B minor so unique is the fact that in it Bach – most unusually for a Lutheran composer – set the liturgical texts of the entire mass cycle to music.

Silver Bear-winning filmmaker Dénes Nagy spent four years following György Kurtág’s everyday life with his camera. The resulting documentary, produced between 2021 and 2025, far exceeds the conventional boundaries of the genre.

Soutoungoumba Diarra, aka Djely Tapa, originally moved from Mali to Canada to study aeronautics. It soon became clear to her, however, that she could not escape the family tradition of making music she had picked up during childhood.

And then something suddenly happens; something extraordinary that makes the entire industry and reading community take notice at once: the novel entitled Lesz majd minden (Everything Shall Be) is published by two identical twins, mainly known until then as playwrights.

Bea Palya’s series entitled “My Silks” has been running with great success since 2015. At these concerts, where she also performs with her excellent band, Palya always introduces a female vocalist less familiar to the Hungarian audience. The events focus on bridging musical worlds and the meeting of two voices, as the artists perform both their solo material and together in the form of duets.

World-Wide

Like Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese is passionately in love with New York City. There is no doubt, however, that Scorsese sees a different city. His is dirtier, edgier, and slightly more full of crime and criminals. Scorsese’s home turf is Little Italy, in Lower Manhattan. On the other hand, New York, New York clearly shows that the two are both jazz fans.

Michael Mayo’s family legacy and natural talent paved the way for him to blossom as an artist and eventually achieve global fame. As the third vocalist to graduate from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, he has worked alongside the institute’s founder, Herbie Hancock, as well as with Kneebody, Christian Sands and Gretchen Parlato.

The dice and the stopwatch will be coming out again at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall as it hosts another round of musical ‘battle’. When we talk about instrumental duels in the Hungarian capital these days, it is no longer necessarily Bach and Marchand, or even Liszt and Thalberg, that we are thinking of, because we have our own riveting concert series right here at Müpa Budapest.

Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Söndörgő is Müpa Budapest’s Ensemble of the Season, which means it will be giving several concerts that break with tradition in the course of the 2025-26 season. Among these will be an evening founded on international collaboration that features three outstanding musicians from the world-renowned progressive jazz-funk-fusion band Snarky Puppy: Michael League, Jay Jennings, and Chris Bullock.

Two vastly different yet mutually enriching musical universes meet on the Müpa stage this evening: Söndörgő, one of Hungary’s most exciting representatives of Balkan and South Slavic musical traditions, and the world-renowned Balanescu Quartet, which masterfully combines contemporary classical music with boundary-defying creative improvisation.