The soloist this evening needs no introduction to Hungarian audiences; Gidon Kremer is one of the finest artists alive today and has frequently visited Hungary over the years, bringing his peerless musicality and beautiful instrumental tone. He first played in Budapest in 1970 on his first visit abroad. His teacher was the great David Oistrakh who introduced him to the world with a performance of Sibelius’s violin concerto. Since then he has frequently and readily come to Budapest. He primarily ...plays 20th and 21st century composers – so it is a particular delight that he has decided to play Tchaikovsky’s beautiful and melodically rich concerto. He will be accompanied by the Russian National Orchestra which was formed just twenty years ago in 1990. This is the only orchestra in Russia not reliant on state subsidy, drawing its funds from private money and donations. Their projects have included a notable Grammy award winning recording of Peter and the Wolf featuring Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mihail Gorbachov. This was conducted by Kent Nagano but the musicians have also worked with Charles Dutoit, Ingo Metzmacher, Antonio Pappano, Leonard Slatkin and Nikolai Znaider. Their founder and artistic director is Mihail Pletnev, who is also an exceptional pianist and a tireless worker for Russia’s cultural life. For the past several years, the ensemble has been working on recording the complete Shostakovich symphonies; the five CDs released so far have been described as the best and most exciting set ever by a top classical internet site. The Ninth Symphony was first performed to a select audience in a piano version with Sviatoslav Richter in September 1945, before its orchestral première in November. It was officially intended as an expression of thanks to the Red Army but in the end, Shostakovich said: “unlike my previous two symphonies it does not have a tragic-heroic character but is transparent, easily understood, and permeated with a light and cheerful mood”. Before the première, he noted “The musicians will be filled with joy playing it, the critics will love panning it”. But he was wrong – the critics praised it and the symphony has continued to be performed regularly in the concert hall.
Parking information
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.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.