Jean-Philippe Rameau's fourth opera, Castor et Pollux, is one of the composer's most successful efforts in the genre. The theme of the five-act work, which follows the traditions of tragédie en musique, comes from Greek mythology: the story of Jupiter's twin sons. The international cast of soloists performing the work in concert version with the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra is composed of singers who are enthusiastically received by Baroque music-loving audiences all over the world. Conductor György Vashegyi has done a great deal to promote Rameau in Hungary: he is the top Hungarian expert on and interpreter of the composer's works.
Rameau, who wrote his first opera at the age of 50, composed Castor and Pollux in 1737, at the age of 54. Premièred that same year, the work lasted for 20 performances. A revised version created in the mid-1750s enjoyed a lengthy period of great success. György Vashegyi is the most significant proponent of historically informed early music in Hungary and has done much to promote little-known French Baroque masterpieces in Hungary. In February 2022, he was made a Chevalier L'Ordre des Arts ...et des Lettres by the French state for his research into the French Baroque opera literature. The Purcell Choir was founded in 1990, followed by the Orfeo Orchestra in 1991. Both ensembles have operated under his leadership ever since, interpreting and performing the most important historically informed concerts in Hungary. For many years now, Vashegyi's workshop of vocal and instrumental performers has developed extremely fruitful relationships with internationally renowned singers, recognised specialists in the early music repertoire, with whom they have given a host of concerts at Müpa Budapest and made numerous recordings. Reinoud Van Mechelen, Tassis Christoyannis and the other soloists featured in this production of Castor et Pollux are all members of this group.
Co-production of Müpa Budapest and Centre de musique baroque de Versailles.
The concert will be preceded, at 6 pm, by an introductory presentation by Benoît Dratwicki entitled Prelude in the Auditorium (in French with Hungarian interpretation). The program will be open to anyone holding a ticket for the performance, but subject to prior registration on our website.
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
Ticket information
You may purchase tickets online and in person for this performance using a Müpa Budapest gift voucher or by debiting the leisure allowance on OTP, K&H or MKB SZÉP cards.
If you purchase the tickets in person, then we also accept Edenred Gift Vouchers, and Edenred gift cards (Benefit and Family cards) as well as the culture subaccount allowance on OTP Cafeteria cards.
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.
Refreshments – Without the Queue
Thanks to our new catering service at the Átrium Snack Bar, you can forget about waiting in line during intermissions for some refreshments and get your order prepped especially for you by the time the intermission actually starts. Find out more about pre-ordering 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.
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