Popular programs

This full-evening "crime story" of a dance drama takes as its starting point Barcsai's Lover, one of the most estimable of Hungary's balladic treasures. After cuckolding her husband, a wife awaits a terrible punishment. But how did things actually get to this point?

Recirquel’s new production, Paradisum explores the myth of rebirth following the silence of a destroyed world, where the means of communication is the body, and the only common language is movement.

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.

Mozart was insatiably in love with life. He embraced everything considered “sinful”: wine, cards, billiards. And his passion extended to musical ornaments: flowery acciaccaturas, trills, cadences others dared not risk, and chromatic runs.

A rainbow of sounds from the orchestra, enigmatic dialogues and mysterious riddles. Not to mention a treacherous dwarf and a glorious young hero. Who after slaying a dragon and tasting its blood, is able to understand the prophetic singing of a bird. And then crosses through a wall of fire to discover both the woman who is his mate and, through his love for her, fear.

Although the concept behind the productions has always been a mature one, over the years the Ring has been rejuvenated within the framework of a constant idea and reborn in the details. Another permanent feature is the conducting method - one combining humanism with perfectionism - of music director Ádám Fischer.

Pursuing happiness, love and affection through countless adventures across this great wide world, but still eventually finding a final peace in the arms of his beloved, Peer Gynt is one of the most complex characters in 19th-century drama.

Every year since 2008, this festive gala of Hungarian folk and world music has filled Müpa Budapest to bursting. On this occasion, the evening will be framed by the Moldavian and Gyimes dance house music of Róbert Kerényi and the Szigony Band, while the still-youthful musicians of the Sarjú Band are also experienced dance house performers.

Das Rheingold is the introduction to the storyline, depicting the central conflict. Starting from a primeval state of peace, the opera shows how the original sin was committed, triggering a chain of events that eventually lead to complete annihilation.

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

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.

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.

Köteleket eloldani, vitorlákat kibontani, indul a BaHorKa Társulat zenés hajója! A Müpába már szinte hazajáró csapat teljesen új oldaláról mutatja be a magyar tengert.

Formed in the late 1990s, the Polish Warsaw Village Band is one of Europe’s most celebrated world music acts, revitalizing and preserving traditional Polish folk music while boldly blending it with modern elements.

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.

The Hungarian National Dance Ensemble’s 2024 production conceived during its time as Ensemble of the Season offers a glimpse into the unbridled and cheerful fun of the carnival.

A kortárs zene élő legendáját, a százéves Kurtág Györgyöt köszönti az évad művésze, az izlandi zongoraművész, Víkingur Ólafsson, akinek Goldberg-variációk-felvétele 2025-ben elnyerte a Grammy-díjat, és aki szoros munkakapcsolatban áll a magyar komponistával.

In March, the Gallery Concerts series takes listeners on a journey through the organ music of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

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.

The Clair-Obscur project is the coming together of two storied ensembles, and a unique interplay between two musical traditions.

Age: 0-3 year

Vladimir Kostadinović has come a long way since being introduced to the Hungarian audience as a young talent at the 2013 Jazz Showcase.

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.

Jonas Kaufmann, a sokoldalú német tenor, a budapesti közönség régi kedvence emlékezetes sikerű Mein Wien (Az én Bécsem) című albumát követően új lemezén a magyarokra irányítja a reflektorfényt. A tervezett cím – Magische Töne: Berühmte Melodien aus Österreich-Ungarn, azaz Varázslatos hangok: híres dallamok az Osztrák–Magyar Monarchiából – utal arra, hogy a művész ezúttal a külföldön legismertebb magyar komponisták, köztük Goldmark Károly, Lehár Ferenc, Kálmán Imre népszerű műveiből válogat.

Az épületekhez hasonlóan a zeneművek is apró alkotóelemekből állnak – hangokból, hangszínekből, szabályokból és azok játékos megszegéséből. A Hangvár sorozat az építőkövekre fókuszál, amelyekből ezúttal népzenei formákat rakunk össze.

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 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.

For Hungarian audiences, Okvsho is more than just one of the most promising and exciting bands on the vibrant European jazz scene.

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.

It is not exclusively Hungarians that Müpa Budapest honours with the prestigious title of Artist of the Season: foreign musicians, such as the Russian piano virtuoso Denis Matsuev, for instance, have also been distinguished in this way. The prerequisites are obvious: a high level of professional excellence and a fruitful relationship with Müpa Budapest.

The globally beloved Portuguese genre of fado is already familiar to the Müpa audience, and now one of its greatest contemporary stars is visiting Budapest for the first time. Nominated for a Latin Grammy, Carminho is a true heir to her mother, Teresa Siqueira, and was celebrated as the genre’s great hope in 2005, even before she reached the age of 20.

Any effort to present the finest nuances of the Hungarian language will inevitably turn to its poetry, and while the question of whose poem to select can be open to debate, the list of contenders must invariably include Attila József.

Elgar: Civic Fanfare
Purcell: Abdelazer, Z. 570 – Overture and Rondeau
Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), Op. 34