Cecilia Bartoli, Sir Antonio Pappano, Péter Eötvös, the New York Philharmonic – global stars, leading Hungarian and international ensembles, new and updated series, and young talent on the cusp of greatness – the Müpa 2016/2017 season once again offers a rich palette of events of the highest quality. Tickets for next season’s concerts are divided into 15 series, with season tickets going on sale on 10 March.
As has become traditional, Müpa Budapest has lined up a season of outstanding productions for 2016/17 featuring internationally recognised performers. The Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia will be conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, Péter Eötvös’s oratorio set to a libretto by Péter Esterházy will be performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a co-production with Müpa Budapest, Valery Gergiev returns with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, while Alan Gilbert leads the concert by the New York Philharmonic. The Berlin Philharmonic Winds perform and Cameron Carpenter, enfant terrible of the organ, appears with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra, and Ilona Prunyi holds a chamber recital on International Music Day. World-famous singers will also be coming to Müpa Budapest next season: Marcelo Álvarez gives an aria recital, while the Early Music Festival welcomes Philippe Jaroussky and Simone Kermes. Cecilia Bartoli brings Handel’s heroines to life, while William Christie performs the master’s oratorio Messiah with Les Arts Florissants. On All Saints’ Day, Helmuth Rilling conducts Mozart’s Requiem, while the New Year begins with it the now traditional performance of Haydn’s The Creation, conducted by Adam Fischer, on this occasion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. From the opera repertoire, we present Rameau’s Naïs and Bellini’s last opera, I puritani. Under the aegis of the Wagner in Budapest Opera Festival, Parsifal features alongside the Ring Cycle, as well as a new addition in the form of a concert performance of Rienzi.
Kristóf Baráti is Artist of the Season for 2016/17, and the Ensemble of the Season is the Szeged Contemporary Ballet. Their productions will provide genuine variety: Kristóf Baráti will provide a taste of every era of the violin repertoire, while the Szeged Contemporary Ballet performs its hugely successful Josephslegende production alongside their exciting reworking of Gluck’s Don Juan and their translation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concerto series into the language of dance.
Müpa Budapest and the Budapest Festival Orchestra will hold a Brahms Marathon, while the guest country for the Bridging Europe Festival, their other joint production, is France.
Next season will also be coloured by outstanding jazz, world and popular music concerts, contemporary circus productions, literary evenings, dance performances, and youth and children’s programmes. The godmother of the chanson, Juliette Gréco, jazz legend Bobby McFerrin, and the pioneer of African music Salif Keita also grace the Müpa stage.
The series that have become increasingly popular over the years have been refreshed: The Rising Stars programme showcasing young talent will be extended to a two-day festival. The novelty of our Discoveries season ticket is that the concerts will take place at the family-friendly time of 6 pm on Sunday evenings and every concert will feature a talented young competition winner. The New Orleans Swing Festival and Jazz Spring both return, and Hey June will again introduce the cream of Hungarian pop music. Productions from the Recirquel Contemporary Circus Company continue to be on the repertoire, while fans of Müpa Budapest’s world-famous organ can look forward to classical organ concerts, as well as duels and improvisation that are sure to bend the boundaries between genres. The guests for the popular Literarium literary evenings are Péter Esterházy, Ottó Tolnai, László Krasznahorkai, Gyula Zeke, Béla Markó, László Végel and András Cserna-Szabó.
A season ticket series entitled Little and Large will be launched for families both as an educational experience and an opportunity to hear popular works performed by musicians who are themselves children. For the Matinée Concerts series, familiar figures from Hungary’s cultural life, including László Fassang, Bea Palya, Szilveszter Ókovács and Tamás Juronics, will reveal the passions that connect them to their genres, while children will receive a glimpse into the process of putting together a performance at the Workshop Concerts. For those of more advanced years, the Seniors’ Season subscription is an opportunity to enjoy an eclectic range of chamber and orchestral music, as well as operatic works, at discounted prices.
The 15 classical music subscription series of the Müpa Budapest 2016/17 season are avaiable from Müpa box offices and online on mupa.hu from 10 March. Those purchasing season tickets will receive 20% off the prices of individual tickets, a higher discount than offered in previous years.
The Müpa Budapest book documenting the first ten years of the institution will soon be available in bookshops. The exclusive publication is a special look into the story of the building’s creation, its most memorable performances, and guestbook entries, photographs and interviews by the performers to have appeared at the venue.
Müpa Budapest
Müpa Budapest is one of Hungary’s most recognised cultural brands and among the country’s most modern cultural institutions. The venue embraces the many branches of the arts in unique fashion by providing an equally fitting setting for classical, contemporary and popular music, jazz and world music, opera, contemporary circus, dance, literature and film.
Müpa Budapest was created in 2005 to allow these disciplines of the arts to offer cultural events of outstanding quality to an exceptionally broad audience. The fundamental mission of the institution – while respecting artistic traditions both at home and in Europe at large – is to present new trends and directions and make them intelligible to all, and to provide a
venue for high-quality experiences accessible to both the connoisseur and the wider general public.
In addition to performances by artists from the domestic and international vanguard, Müpa Budapest initiates and supports the creation of new works. It plays a prominent role in nurturing international contacts, pursuing cultural objectives in Hungary, and popularising Hungarian performing artists abroad. Its key goals include ensuring that the young people of the coming generations grow up to become conscious adult consumers of culture in ever-increasing numbers. It accomplishes all this by presenting artistic events and services that inspire, stimulate dialogue and prompt inquiry, as well as creating original programmes founded on the value of experiences, creativity and interaction.
