His political involvement and premature death have obscured the fact that Géza Szőcs was one of Hungary’s most outstanding and exciting contemporary poets.

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?

How did the world come to be born from chaos? How can music tell the story of light coming into being? What appears in the score when birds fly overhead or the sea rears up? Haydn’s The Creation is filled with evocative musical tricks, from which Ádám Fischer will select highlights for Müpa Budapest’s traditional New Year’s afternoon concert, one specifically designed for schoolchildren.

Vincenzo Bellini’s final opera is a veritable apotheosis of bel canto that should only be presented to an audience with performers displaying impeccable technique and stylistic sensibilities.

Vincenzo Bellini’s final opera is a veritable apotheosis of bel canto that should only be presented to an audience with performers displaying impeccable technique and stylistic sensibilities.

First came the microgroove, then the LP, originally in the form of what we now call the vinyl album. Usually 12 inches in diameter and playing at a speed of 33 1/3 rotations per minute, it could accommodate up to 50 minutes of music, making it a respectable medium for even a complete rock opera.

“Mihály Csokonai Vitéz’s most famous portrait shows a man in a Hungarian fur-lined mantle gazing at us with large, open eyes. Whoever etched this image into copper never set eyes on the poet, " writes László Bertók.

When we think about words being used to create art, that can mean two things: literature and song lyrics.

Katalin Ladik, who has roots in Vojvodina, is one of the most exciting figures in Hungarian contemporary literature. Her long career, filled with surprises, bright ideas and unexpected turns, draws on avant-garde traditions, while incorporating reinterpreted elements of more traditional forms of expression into an original poetic language that places them in a new context.

Nyíregyházi Cantemus Vegyeskar (karigazgató: Szabó Soma)
Budafoki Dohnányi Zenekar
Vezényel: Hollerung Gábor

What music accompanied the life of the Swedish royal court during the reign of Charles XI in the 17th century? Ensemble Correspondances, one of France’s most renowned early music formations, brings the rarely heard treasures of Scandinavian Baroque to Budapest for the first time.

A Kossuth-díjas Vujicsics együttes alapítótagja, a hetvenéves Borbély Mihály pályafutása során mindig azon dolgozott, hogy bemutassa a hangfolyamok útját azok forrása és deltavidéke között.

Born into a musical family and soon revealing herself to be a child prodigy, Varijashree Venugopal pioneered the way in integrating her own musical roots, India’s classical Carnatic tradition, into the medium of jazz.

The release of the volume A bilincs a szabadság legyen (‘Let the Shackles Be the Freedom’), a collection of the correspondence between Miklós Mészöly and Alaine Polcz, generated a significant level of interest in the writers’ private lives and literary work that, it is no exaggeration to say, continues to this day.

The season’s undeniable prestige production, this new Tristan und Isolde features MET music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting, with Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres in the dual title roles.

The ensemble formed by singer-pianist Tamara Mózes and keyboardist-composer Zsolt Kaltenecker is constantly looking for unique ways to blend jazz, pop, rock, electronic sounds, progressive elements and improvisation.

This representative birthday tribute to one of the most significant writers in contemporary Hungarian literature, György Spiró, promises a unique experience for the audience: a memorable encounter with an author who recently published yet another masterpiece, the novel Padmaly.

Szüts Apor – zongora
Budafoki Dohnányi Zenekar
Vezényel: Hollerung Gábor

Born in Vilnius and with Armenian roots, the soprano Asmik Grigorian is one of the biggest favourites – and no longer an outside favourite – on today’s international opera scene.

Born in Vilnius and with Armenian roots, the soprano Asmik Grigorian is one of the biggest favourites – and no longer an outside favourite – on today’s international opera scene.

Artistic collaborations between Müpa Budapest and the Munich Radio Orchestra have already delighted audiences with two Verdi rarities: I due Foscari in 2018 and another early Verdi opera, I Lombardi, which was performed in 2023 by an outstanding international cast of singers. On this occasion, chief conductor Ivan Repušić has chosen another gem, Simon Boccanegra.

Born 125 years ago, László Németh rightly deserves a place on any list of the most significant authors of 20th-century Hungarian literature. This programme aims not only to commemorate the writer’s diverse oeuvre, but also to encourage the audience to reread and rediscover it by recalling passages, both familiar and lesser-known, selected from different eras of his career.

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.

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.

Twenty-five years ago, four highly skilled French musicians decided to take the freedom of jazz and the pulsating sound of funk, and shape them into an entirely new concept by exploiting the possibilities offered by electronica. The experiment proved successful, and Electro Deluxe was born in Paris. Later, courtesy of American singer James Copley, the band discovered new vistas to explore.

A 29-year-old female bass player from India. These few words are enough for most people to immediately think of Mohini Dey. Despite her young age, pages could be filled listing all the artists and festivals she has performed with and at since the age of nine. It was her father, also a bass player, who started her on her professional path, a journey which has so far brought her into contact with Steve Vai, Zakir Hussain, Quincy Jones, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Gergő Borlai.

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.

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.

One thing we know for certain about the 21st century is that it will be when the survivors of the Holocaust take their last breath. Every single one of them. Slowly but surely, they are leaving us to our own devices. “Do we want to forget what happened, as if it were a bad dream, or do we want to accept the events as human civilization’s greatest trauma?” the author Péter Esterházy once asked.

Many people were surprised when, after a successful two-year streak during which they won the A38 talent competition known as Talentométer and conquered stages across Europe, including Müpa Budapest, makrohang split up. They then caused another, more pleasant surprise with the news in 2023 that they would be reviving what they themselves call their “jazz for metalheads” sound.

The MET’s contemporary highlight of the 2025-2026 season centres on, arguably, art history’s most famous painter couple, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

The MET’s contemporary highlight of the 2025-2026 season centres on, arguably, art history’s most famous painter couple, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

Wagner
Parsifal – festive musical stage play in three acts (German-language performance, with Hungarian surtitles)

Known for her sensitive interpretation of roles, the Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund will once again demonstrate in this evening of lieder what an outstanding performer of the German repertoire she is.