26162_budapesti_fesztivalzenekar_eu_hidak_230924_26_01.jpg
classical music, opera, theatre
Budapest Festival Orchestra
26 September 2023, Tuesday
5:45 pm - 8 pm
one interval
Béla Bartók National Concert Hall
Bridging Europe: Budapest-Rome

Liszt

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Liszt

Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major

interval

Bartók

The Miraculous Mandarin, Sz. 73, BB 82 - pantomime in one act

Bridging Europe with Liszt and Bartók, along with a cimbalom, a piano and a pantomime. It is not simply the orchestra version of the most famous of the Hungarian rhapsodies that will be featured this evening: joining them will be Jenő Lisztes, a master of the cimbalom, an instrument typical of the urban Gypsy music that inspired Liszt, who, in addition to captivating audiences at Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein and the BBC Proms alongside the BFO, has also worked with the legendary Hans Zimmer. Liszt's increasingly richly orchestrated piano concerto, which he revised four times, will be performed with Croatian soloist Dejan Lazić. One of Bartók's most beloved works, The Miraculous Mandarin, with a plot that explores questions of the body and soul, will be brought to life by the Éva Duda Dance Company.

In the late 1840s, Liszt retired from performing and settled down in Weimar to work as a court conductor. There, his focus as a composer shifted to the symphonic genres he had neglected previously. At the premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major in 1857, he took up the conductor's baton, but left the solo part to one of his students. Although the piece sounds like one single movement, it can be divided into several sections. Liszt tied the piece together with a single central concept, an intimate and lyrical theme that he returns to with a different style and tempo in each segment until it culminates in the finale as a brass fanfare.
"In the jungle of a city slum, three tramps force a young girl to seduce men so that they can then rob them,” begins Béla Bartók's description of The Miraculous Mandarin. In Menyhért Lengyel's nightmare tale, the tramps first successfully waylay two poor men, but then are unable to overcome the third victim: a wealthy Chinese mandarin who besieges the girl with his love. They strangle him, stab him with a sword and even hang him, but to no avail. Finally, the girl gives the mandarin what he longs for, and he drops dead. In it, Bartók breaks with classical tonality and uses dissonance as a means of expression. Placing the percussionists in the foreground, he also wrote unorthodox parts for the wind instruments and related the story with a wild, rhythmic, pulsating sound - at least musically. Reinterpreting the visual side of the work will be the dancers of the Éva Duda Dance Company, known for its dynamic and daring choreographies.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest, Budapest Festival Orchestra

Conductor:

Iván Fischer

Featuring:

cimbalom Jenő Lisztes
piano Dejan Lazić
Éva Duda Dance Company
  • We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.

General contact information
What would you like to ask about?
Müpa+ membership programme

Join the free membership programme of Müpa Budapest

Getting here

Müpa Budapest can be accessed by car from Soroksári út, Könyves Kálmán körút and Rákóczi Bridge.

Using public transport by the trams 1, 2, 24, by the busses 54 and 15 and by the HÉV - suburban railway H7.

Opening hours, events

1095 Budapest, Komor Marcell u. 1. | +36 1 555 3000 Opening hours | Map

Parking

Müpa Budapest provides complementary parking for visitors with paid tickets to any of our public performances on the day of the performance. Free parking in this case is available for a single entry and lasts until Müpa Budapest closes.

Questions about parking | info@mupa.hu

Venue hire

Public cultural events • Coordinationtereminfo@mupa.hu

Private hires uzletirendezveny@mupa.hu

Newsletter
Sign up for the newsletter of Müpa Budapest and be the first to learn of our events. Sign up