19th-century Romantic vocal and piano works
We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the foundation of one of the world's first Wagner societies. Furthermore, this date precedes the birth of the city of Budapest by exactly one year. It must have been a wonderful age when the city's first radial boulevard - Andrássy Avenue - was created by the Public Works Council, with public buildings that, for the opera world both then and now, culminated in the construction of the singular Royal Opera House.
The secretary of the Wagner Society of Pest was Albert Apponyi, count of Nagyappony, and its president was his close friend the composer Ödön Mihalovich, to whom Hungarian music history owes, among other things, the elevation of the Liszt Academy to European standards. Nevertheless, the catalyst behind the establishment of the Pest association may well have been Hans Richter - a good personal friend of Wagner's and an enthusiastic champion of his works, not to mention the person who copied the score of Meistersinger in order to prepare it for printing. This brilliant conductor is still known to all Wagner fans for being the one to wield the baton at the Bayreuth premiere of the Ring in 1876, enabling the tetralogy to start its journey around the world. With our Advent concert, we commemorate these ‘talentvoll' people to whom we owe the Wagner cult in Hungary.
It was undoubtedly after winning the Maria Callas Singing Competition in Athens in 2005 that Liszt Award-winning artist Gábor Bretz began his international journey, as he made his debut in 2007 at La Scala in Milan and at the Salzburg Festival. A regular fixture at the Budapest Wagner Days festival, the bass-baritone has sung several important Wagner roles. The velvety tone of his voice and his engaging personality rightfully make him one of the most important singers in Hungary today.
Péter Oberfrank (another Liszt Award-winner) is an extremely versatile artist, with his work as a conductor complemented by his activities as a pianist. In addition to giving concerts, he teaches in the voice department at the Liszt Academy. His career is characterised by countless outstanding productions - conducting the works of Giacomo Puccini, Sándor Szokolay, Benjamin Britten, Béla Bartók and Richard Strauss, as well as in his operatic duties as second conductor alongside the superb János Kovács. Many of us can remember the performances of Mozart's Da Ponte operas at the 2006 Budapest Spring Festival, when Bretz sang the title role in Don Giovanni. Péter Oberfrank burst onto the Hungarian music scene in 2006 as the musical motor driving performances directed by Balázs Kovalik. The series of performances dubbed the Mozart Marathon was a huge success with critics and the audience alike.
Hosting the Advent event is are the Richard Wagner Society's president, architect Gábor Zoboki, and its executive president, Krisztina Hudomel.
In addition to members of the Society, gold- and platinum-level members of the Müpa+ membership programme have received invitations to the private event. Tickets cannot be purchased for this event. Participation is free of charge for those in the membership programme and one guest, subject to prior registration. By collecting the tickets registered in your name upon arrival, you are entitled to use the underground garage free of charge.
Presented by: Richard Wagner Society, Müpa Budapest
-
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.
