Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra Conductor: György Vashegyi Athalia: Katalin Halmai Josabeth: Szilvia Hamvasi Joas: Ágnes Kovács Joad: Péter Bárány Mathan: Zoltán Megyesi Abner: Krisztián Cser Georg Friedrich Handel, who died two hundred and fifty years ago on April 14th 1759, completed his oratorio Athalia (HWV 52) in June 1733. He wrote it for a visit to Oxford where he travelled from London at the invitation of the rector of the university where certain sources say they intended to best...ow on him an honorary doctorate. For undetermined reasons though, Handel did not accept it. The première of his new work was the climax of an Oxford concert series of five oratorio performances, and he himself conducted it on June 10th at the Sheldonian Theatre. This oratorio, or to give it its original title “Oratorio, or Sacred Drama” precedes the Messiah by eight years. Its text derives from Jean Racine’s 1691 tragedy of the same title and was adapted by Samuel Humphreys. (This was Racine’s last drama and comprises of a story he found in the Book of Kings and Chronicles.) Handel’s masterpiece makes a fitting musical equivalent to Racine’s play with its peerless formal variety, exciting colourful choral and solo movements, not least the unforgettably serious and tragic Halleluja, which closes the first act.
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.