Popular programs

Whether we’re talking textiles or literature, “English” is a hallmark of excellence, and the island nation’s music rightfully deserves similar recognition.

Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Elgar: Seranade for Strings in E minor, Op. 20

Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op. 36
Britten: Soirées musicales, Op. 9

This concerto has all the attributes to make it a genuine celebration for the audience.

Miles Davis, one of the most recognisable figures in jazz history, would have celebrated his hundredth birthday in 2026. To mark the occasion, a star trumpet player in the world of contemporary jazz, Ambrose Akinmusire, has come together with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra to embark on a joint tour, honour the giant of the genre, pay tribute to his legacy, and go beyond it by creating new works and inventive arrangements that reimagine the Miles Davis’s genius in the context of modern jazz.

The globally beloved Portuguese genre of fado is already familiar to the Müpa audience, and now one of its greatest contemporary stars is visiting Budapest for the first time. Nominated for a Latin Grammy, Carminho is a true heir to her mother, Teresa Siqueira, and was celebrated as the genre’s great hope in 2005, even before she reached the age of 20.

Silver Bear-winning filmmaker Dénes Nagy spent four years following György Kurtág’s everyday life with his camera. The resulting documentary, produced between 2021 and 2025, far exceeds the conventional boundaries of the genre.

Elgar Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84

Let’s imagine the opera house is just a few steps from the church, because tonight is the night the organ pipes will bring the most thrilling moments of opera to life.

Taking the stage together with one of the world’s most celebrated orchestras at this concert will be two illustrious sons of musical families: Paavo Järvi, who hails from a family of conductors, and Alexandre Kantorow, a pianist born to violinist parents.

What makes the Mass in B minor so unique is the fact that in it Bach – most unusually for a Lutheran composer – set the liturgical texts of the entire mass cycle to music.

Purcell: Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary – March, Z. 860
Elgar: Cockaigne Overture, Op. 40
Britten: Peter Grimes, Op. 33a – Four Sea Interludes

The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic are a unique ensemble, composed exclusively of instrumentalists from the cello section of one of the world’s top symphony orchestras.

In 2026, Müpa Budapest will be spotlighting Hungarian jazz talent through the Jazz Showcase for the nineteenth year running. Alongside established performers, countless young artists have been introduced in recent years to dazzle the jury and captivate audiences. Now, for this special occasion, they return as a one-of-a-kind big band, like members of a large family.

Elgar: Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82
Britten: Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 6

Age: 0-3 year

It has been 30 years since Mónika Lakatos first emerged on the Hungarian and international music scenes and started building bridges between cultures through her art: an emblem and authentic representative of the Gypsy musical tradition, she has also become an integral part of the Hungarian music world as a whole.

After recording operas by Rameau and his contemporaries, György Vashegyi now conducts Armide, the masterpiece by Louis XIV’s court composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully. Lully’s final lyric tragedy premiered in 1686 and was performed at the Paris Opera until 1766, when it was overshadowed by Gluck’s version of the story based on the same libretto.

Jazzbois first burst onto the scene at the 2017 Müpa Budapest Jazz Showcase. By 2023, they were hosting Kaláka as guests at the Festival Theatre, and, a couple of years later, they were conquering major international festivals: the Leverkusener Jazztage, the Montreux Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, and the Montreal Jazz Festival, to name but a few. Jamie Cullum also dedicated an entire BBC radio show to the band, including a conversation with Viktor Sági.

Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z. 629 – cross-section

Every year since 2008, this festive gala of Hungarian folk and world music has filled Müpa Budapest to bursting. On this occasion, the evening will be framed by the Moldavian and Gyimes dance house music of Róbert Kerényi and the Szigony Band, while the still-youthful musicians of the Sarjú Band are also experienced dance house performers.

In the original language, with Hungarian subtitles.

The discussions before and after the screening will be conducted in Hungarian.

Together with her internationally successful early music ensemble, L’Arpeggiata, harpist and theorbo-player Christina Pluhar are renowned for fashioning each and every concert programme out of a unique project. For this occasion, they have chosen one of the greatest masterpieces from the Baroque opera literature:

Das Rheingold is the introduction to the storyline, depicting the central conflict. Starting from a primeval state of peace, the opera shows how the original sin was committed, triggering a chain of events that eventually lead to complete annihilation.

A kortárs zene élő legendáját, a százéves Kurtág Györgyöt köszönti az évad művésze, az izlandi zongoraművész, Víkingur Ólafsson, akinek Goldberg-variációk-felvétele 2025-ben elnyerte a Grammy-díjat, és aki szoros munkakapcsolatban áll a magyar komponistával.

A harmincas generáció két átütő tehetségű képviselője, az orgonista Tabajdi Ádám és a trombitás Pálfalvi Tamás mindketten hangszerük legsikeresebb művészei közé tartoznak. A műsor csupa változatosság és szépség.

What music accompanied the life of the Swedish royal court during the reign of Charles XI in the 17th century? Ensemble Correspondances, one of France’s most renowned early music formations, brings the rarely heard treasures of Scandinavian Baroque to Budapest for the first time.

Formed in the late 1990s, the Polish Warsaw Village Band is one of Europe’s most celebrated world music acts, revitalizing and preserving traditional Polish folk music while boldly blending it with modern elements.

Wagner
Parsifal – festive musical stage play in three acts (German-language performance, with Hungarian surtitles)

Age: 0-3 year

Jonas Kaufmann, a sokoldalú német tenor, a budapesti közönség régi kedvence emlékezetes sikerű Mein Wien (Az én Bécsem) című albumát követően új lemezén a magyarokra irányítja a reflektorfényt. A tervezett cím – Magische Töne: Berühmte Melodien aus Österreich-Ungarn, azaz Varázslatos hangok: híres dallamok az Osztrák–Magyar Monarchiából – utal arra, hogy a művész ezúttal a külföldön legismertebb magyar komponisták, köztük Goldmark Károly, Lehár Ferenc, Kálmán Imre népszerű műveiből válogat.

Whether we’re talking textiles or literature, “English” is a hallmark of excellence, and the island nation’s music rightfully deserves similar recognition.

In 2024, Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra returned to perform at Müpa Budapest. The night was one big party. Was it what we would call folk punk? Balkan rollicking? Categories are meaningless. Kusturica is very consistent in his use of music in his films. (Sometimes the songs even become hits.)

Although he caused a scandal in the early ’70s with two of his animated films (Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic), which verge on adults-only fare, Ralph Bakshi remains an unfamiliar name to most people.

This programme is like a lavishly laid festive table set in the heart of Krakow: behind the dishes lie deep emotions, rich tradition and special musical seasonings. It kicks off with Stanisław Moniuszko’s fabulous fantasy overture, which combines a pinch of romance and a helping of fairy dust with lots of dramatic magic.

A band committed to modernising Indian classical music, Araj consists of five young musicians considered in their homeland to be the outstanding performers of their generation. Formed by tabla player Ishaan Ghosh, all members are virtuosos of their instruments (tabla, sitar, bamboo flute, sarangi) and vocal techniques, and their interplay breathes new life into the Indian classical tradition.