One of the greatest musical sensations of 2009 was the joint concert by the legendary French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier and the cult sensation of Hungarian organ playing, Xavér Varnus who played to an absolutely packed house at the Palace of Arts. It happened on a Wednesday afternoon. The middle of just an average week. And yet, during the middle of a work day, Budapest’s biorhythm perked up. Old men in bow ties and elegantly dressed ladies, young teenage girls and grey haired mothers, enthus...iastic university students and housewives all arrived in legions, leaving their commitments behind to witness this encounter of two enchanted souls. “When under Loussier’s musical aura, I decided with the Talamba guys that one day we would present a jazz version of Mozart’s demonic and painful masterpiece, the Requiem” recalls Xaver Varnus. “I soon mentioned this to Jacques, adding that music lovers will burn us at the stake, if we were to break such a taboo! The grey haired genius face suddenly looked nervous: “Narrow minded fools! Take no notice of them!” And then he started playing the Requiem on the dressing room piano, reproducing the work’s exact same incomparable sorrow but with this own characteristic harmonies, which is the reason why Loussier has been a legend for the last fifty years.” For this world première of the jazz requiem, the Victoria Chamber Choir and the Talamba group (one of the top ten percussion ensembles in the world), will mix Mozart’s musical texture and free-jazz paraphrases. And all this on the Palace of Art’s legendary organ. Could All Saints Day get any better? Perhaps … Xavér Varnus also plays a series of works by three forgotten geniuses of Hungarian composition for organ: Dezső Antalffy-Zsiross, Tibor Pikhéthy and Gábor Lisznyay Szabó.
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.