In 2011, the music world celebrates the 200th anniversary of Ferenc Liszt's birth. The official opening gala of the Hungarian Liszt year will be led by Zoltán Kocsis, among the most accomplished and knowledgeable interpreters of the legendary composer's work. From his place at the piano, Kocsis will lead the Hungarian National Philharmonic through a selection of works documenting the composer's close ties to Hungary. Among these is his 1853 Hungarian Fantasy, conducted for the first time in 1853... by Ferenc Erkel and performed by soloist Hans von Bülow. The piece will be played by Gábor Farkas, among the brightest stars of the latest generation of pianists and an artist with a special talent for interpreting Liszt's music. The work – thought to be an authentic folk song at the time – is reminiscent of several folk classics: "The Stork Flies High”, the formerly popular Rákóczi Song and the Csárdás of Koltó can all be heard. All of these Liszt learned from a troupe from Máramarossziget on a visit to Kolozsvár (now Cluj, Romania) in 1846. After the interval, the audience will hear the Coronation Mass composed for Hungarian king Franz Joseph I in 1867. In addition to its ecclesiastical characteristics, Hungarian motifs are prominent in the work, which is known to have won the approval of the newly crowned Hungarian king with its brevity, richness and simplicity. The symphonic work to be heard here as an overture was the first of Liszt's 12 symphonies. It was published during his time in Weimar and drew inspiration from French writer Victor Hugo. As a point of interest, the half-hour piece was number one among orchestral études right up until the time of Schönberg's Pelléas et Mélisande in 1903.
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.