Hungarian classical and folk music is world-renowned. The names and works of Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Ferenc Liszt have won Hungarian culture a considerable reputation. The concert halls of the capital attract not only the best Hungarian artists, but also the greatest performers from every corner of the world. Each year the Budapest Spring Festival and its counterpart the Budapest Autumn Festival host the very best of Hungarian and international music, theatre, film and fine arts.

MUSIC, THEATRES, events in Budapest

 Hungarian classical and folk music is world-renowned. The names and works of Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Ferenc Liszt have won Hungarian culture a considerable reputation. The concert halls of the capital attract not only the best Hungarian artists, but also the greatest performers from every corner of the world. Each year the Budapest Spring Festival and its counterpart the Budapest Autumn Festival host the very best of Hungarian and international music, theatre, film and fine arts.

High standard opera and ballet performances of the Hungarian State Opera House and the Erkel Theatre consistently play to full houses, and the audience can experience classical works of music in their original tongue.The most famous Hungarian opera, Ferenc Erkel’s Bánk bán, and Béla Bartók’s beautiful ballet The Miraculous Mandarin feature on programmes virtually all year round.

Aside from the successful operettas of Imre Kálmán, Pál Ábrahám and Ferenc Lehár (Countess Marica, Csárdás Queen, Land of Smiles) playing in the renewed Budapest Operetta Theatre, the programme is also spiced with popular musicals (Funny Girl, Sound of Music). The world famous musical Phantom of the Opera can be seen in the Madách Theatre all year round. Several other theatres also feature Hungarian and foreign musicals on their repertoires. The Merlin Theatre and IBS International Buda Stage most frequently perform works in English or in other languages featuring Hungarian and foreign artists.