Giuseppe Verdi, one of the greatest figures in operatic history, was born two hundred years ago. The libretto for his opera Il Corsaro was, like those of Ernani, Attila and Macbeth by the same composer, written by Francesco Maria Piave, based on an epic poem by Byron. Il Corsaro was premièred at the Teatro Grande in Trieste on 25 February 1848, but was not a success. It was written during a period when Verdi needed to fulfil commissions and contracts to write a total of 13 operas within eight ye...ars. He worked on several works at once, always giving priority to the one that needed to be completed first. The protagonist of the action, which takes place at the beginning of the 19th century, is the pirate captain Corrado, who feels he has no hope of returning to an honourable and happy life. During an attack launched on the Turkish Pasha Seid, he takes pity on the Pasha’s slave girls, rescuing them from their burning harem. When he himself is taken prisoner and sentenced to death, Gulnara, the Pasha’s favourite slave who is in love with Corrado, frees him and stabs the hated master to death. Corrado nevertheless remains faithful to his betrothed Medora, but she drinks poison when the pirates return from their Turkish adventure without their captain. When Corrado arrives back among the pirates, he is informed of his lover’s death and throws himself into the sea in despair. The performance will be conducted by a representative of the young generation of conductors recently appointed as music director of the Teatr Wielki (Grand Theatre) in Warsaw. Carlo Montanaro is sought-after across Europe, particularly for his expertise in the Italian opera repertoire.
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.