Preparations for a performance of Nabucco, the first Verdi opera to be staged in Pest in January 1847, were still in full swing when a contemporary newspaper made a malicious play on words (using the alternative title “Na bukom”) to imply that the opera would be a flop in Hungary, as would its then largely unknown composer. Today, with the world celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi as one of the most successful opera composers of all time, we can naturally only smile ...at how far wide of the mark that facetious journalist proved to be. But it doesn’t hurt, at this time of celebration, to recall that the path was not always smooth over the full length of the Italian master’s career until he eventually assumed the exalted place he now enjoys in the domestic repertoire. Given that we are in the happy position that the history of 166 years since Verdi‘s initial reception in Hungary is inseparable from the great periods of Hungarian opera performance, this exhibition will endeavour to evoke how Verdi’s art was seen and interpreted at various individual times by its most important performers, what they saw as values worth presenting and in what manner, and to what extent they kept pace with the prevalent Verdi fashions of the time. While only roughly a third of the composer’s rich life’s work has become established in the standard repertoire in the past century and a half, his early operas have also recently begun to be rediscovered and performed at least in concert or semi-staged form. It is with just such an intriguing production that the Palace of Arts now enriches the Verdi repertoire with the opera Attila, hitherto only ever performed in Budapest on an outdoor stage. It is to mark this production that an exhibition has been put together to illuminate important moments in the history of Verdi performances in the Hungarian capital. Presented by: Hungarian State Opera, Palace of Arts
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.