Conductor: Ádám Medveczky Berlioz: Roman Carnival – overture, op. 9 Leó Weiner: Carnival – humoresque, op. 5 Richard Strauss: Rosenkavalier-waltz Khatchaturian: Masked Ball – suite Johann Strauss jr: Waltzes, Polkas The masked carnival ball, with its variety and dance associations, has long been a favoured theme of composers. In his Roman Carnival composed in 1844, Hector Berlioz presents themes from his opera Benvenuto Cellini. In his own Carnival humoresque, written sixty three yea...rs later, Hungarian composer Leó Weiner described its programme thus: “A jolly carnival crowd is having fun and then an elderly man drinks a bit too much. He tries to sing the principal theme as he lurches along but he fails (he strays into the subsidiary theme, then one of the closing themes). Before the reprise there is a solo violin: one of the guests grows sad and in a separate room makes the Gypsy play for him”. Richard Strauss became famous (and at his age infamous) for his daringly modern way of treating the orchestra. In his opera Der Rosenkavalier, premiered in 1911, he pairs a nostalgic mood with the waltz. With it, the composer longs back to the era in which the Viennese of Emperor Franz Joseph danced to the waltzes of the King of Waltz, Johann Strauss junior. Armenian composer Aram Khatchaturian wrote incidental music to Lermontov’s drama which he later assembled into his Masked Ball suite. The composition was premiered on June 21st 1941, a day before the Soviet Union found itself embroiled in the Second World War. From January to March 2005, before its official opening, the Palace of Arts underwent a testing phase during which Hungarian orchestras performed almost daily, giving us not only a sense of the hall’s capabilities but also presenting a fascinating picture of Hungary’s orchestral life. The positive experiences gathered during this “spontaneous” festival spawned the concept of turning it into a permanent feature of the Palace of Arts’ concert series and it has now become an established new tradition. Thus in 2006, the series Symphonia Hungarorum – Hungarian Symphonic Panorama was created and in 2007, no less than fifteen Hungarian symphonic ensembles will represent themselves at the festival. As last year, the orchestras are free to choose their own programmes with the proviso they perform in each concert at least one 20th or 21st century Hungarian work.
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
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