Program series

The first-ever Berlin-Budapest Express will kick off the summer with a two-day, predominantly electronic music festival, showcasing artists and forward-thinking music from Berlin and Budapest (and other places). On the opening day, Friday 2 June, the UK bass Hyperdub star Loraine James and one of the greats of industrial techno, Powell, will take to the stage; while on Saturday 3 June we will see the Budapest premiere of German contemporary composer Sven Helbig as well as one of Berlin's most exciting electronic musicians, Grischa Lichtenberger. Both days will close with free open-air concerts: on Friday, the traditional Németh András-Istvánfi Balázs bagpipe band will perform, and on Saturday, Norbert Oláh and his band will play traditional gypsy café music. The Berlin-Budapest Express is organised by the House of Music Hungary in cooperation with the Berlin-based cultural organisation Digital in Berlin. The idea behind the weekend, as simple as it sounds, is to connect two culturally vibrant European capitals – preferably with a train journey in the classical sense – and to create a forum for cross-genre exchanges and innovative musical activities.

Day tickets and combined season tickets are available.

Olivier Messiaen is undoubtedly one of the most original and influential composers of the last century, and as a nature and bird lover, he has used a variety of bird songs in his works. His monumental Catalogue of Birds is one of the largest-scale keyboard compositions in the history of music, and few people around the world have attempted a complete performance of it in a single evening. One of these exceptions is the pianist László Borbély, who is performing the composition in its entirety for the first time in Hungary. The whole work will be performed in three parts, and will include a lecture by music historian Gergely Fazekas and ornithologist Zoltán Orbán.

Periodically sharing curatorial tasks with an artist has become a tradition for the House of Music Hungary, gifting them the opportunity to present their musical and broader artistic activities and their social engagement in a series of weekend-long events. The fourth curatorial weekend will focus on one of the most famous Hungarian musicians in the world, István Várdai. Audiences will not only meet the cellist on stage, but will also gain an insight into Várdai's work as a teacher and instrument developer.

In the underground levels of the House of Music Hungary lies the Sound Dome. This is where the program begins, with a short film providing an unusual acoustic and visual experience, after which the visitors are shown an increasing number of similar films.

Ramazuri – Music from A to Z, for both children and adults, from concerts to workshops – is a monthly series of events which aims to provide entertainment for the whole family.

Music has its good friends too. And as friends so often do, they often get together to create wonderful things. In this series, we aim to show how circus, drawing, theatre, poetry and dance are linked to music and vice versa, and how music can help these arts. And following the special performances, you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself not only in music, but also in some amazing art forms. We welcome everyone who loves to create and would like to become best friends forever with the arts!

The concerts in our series are designed to highlight the diversity of music. Classical, jazz and popular music are all part of the series, so if you attend our events, you will soon see that music truly has a thousand faces. What is more, following the concerts, the performers provide an opportunity to get to know the instruments that were played during the performance and take a closer look at them. Put another way, taking part in a musical journey has never been easier.

Recommended age: 5 years and up.

The language of the events are hungarian. 

Concert at lunchtime! Lunch at a concert!

The House of Music's latest series – Lunchtime concerts – means you can enjoy short concerts by young talents at lunchtime. This series features music from students of the Academy of Music, and the 35-minute mini-concerts are complemented by a meal.

It is the eighth time this year that the György Cziffra Festival, founded by the Kossuth Award-winning pianist, János Balázs, has taken place as a tribute to the eponymous piano genius. The festival is a true representative of Liszt's legacy, one of whose most iconic interpreters was György Cziffra in the 20th century. Performers are created by tunes and sounds, and the audience and the artist become united hearing the masterpieces. From year to year, the festival's programme is made more and more colourful by symphonic and chamber music concerts, exhibitions, poem recitals, café and gipsy music, academic seminars and kids' activities. The festival and György Cziffra's legacy draw public attention to Hungary's cultural diversity, significant artists and young talents.

How can we make music and theatre accessible to all?

The Introduction to Opera series is where the fusion of these two fields – opera – can be understood and enjoyed by everyone. The programme of talks and concerts, which dissects the greatest operas in a humorous and easily accessible way, will continue in the 2022/23 season with an analysis of Ferenc Erkel's Bánk bán [Bánk the Palatine] at the House of Music Hungary.

The aim of the series is to draw attention to one of the most important parts of Hungarian heritage, the Roma music of the cafés, which sadly is increasingly neglected nowadays. 

Whether it is the stirring melodies of stringed Roma bands or the moving melodies of bar pianists, music has always permeated the restaurants, pubs and cafés of Hungarian towns. Once a month, the Musicians’ Café series, launched in the café at the House of Music Hungary, takes its audience into the world of visiting musicians. During our café evenings, we bring to life the restaurant atmosphere of the Gyula Krúdy era, celebrities like Pál Jávor and Antal Páger, who partied with the bands, or decadent jazz musicians. The aim of the series is to draw attention to one of our most important Hungarian heritage items: café Roma music, which is sadly being neglected increasingly.

Our series Hangadó Senior is especially aimed at older participants, but of course we welcome anyone who is interested. The aim of the series is to act as a club and to playfully tell a chapter of music history in an hour-long interactive journey through time. 

Language: Hungarian

Rock and roll is, somewhat simplistically, the result of a particular cultural-historical fusion: that of when the musical traditions of Black slaves brought over from Africa met those of white settlers who had emigrated from Europe to the new world, the Americas. Moreover, all this took place in a radically transforming society, following technological progress and its associated industrialisation and urbanisation. In the second season of this series, we look at the social, cultural and musical events of the period from Elvis to the twilight of the rock and roll era in the Fifties.

Not only did beat, rock, and rock and roll music arrive in Hungary with a considerable delay, the foreign films related to pop culture were shown in Hungarian cinemas very late in the day. At worst, they never arrived at all. The House of Music Hungary's new series features the cult films that have become available in Hungary, such as A Hard Day's Night, which portrays Beatle-mania; The Song Remains The Same, based on Led Zeppelin's emblematic 1973 New York concert; Let There Be Rock, which documents AC/DC's legendary 1979 Paris performance; or the concert film Hungarian Rhapsody, a Hungarian film of the band Queen performing at the National Stadium in the summer of 1986. Before the screenings, a guest cultural historian will talk briefly about the genesis and pop history significance of these works, followed by a behind-the-scenes look at the productions with the help of a character closely associated with the production concerned.

Contemporary Hungarian film and (rock) music have been in contact practically since the late 1960s. Sometimes more intensively, sometimes more loosely, but they are essentially inseparable.  Before the screenings, Béla Szilárd Jávorszky will talk briefly about the genesis and pop-historical significance of these works, followed by a discussion with a guest film aesthetics expert on the relevant domestic and international trends.

Language: Hungarian

In our The story of us series, we will present the exciting journey of the House of Music Hungary through a series of lectures.

Language: Hungarian

The concerts of our Tuned to Piano program series can easily captivate those who are still far from the world of romantic piano literature, while they also hold new experiences for those who come to the House of Music Hungary as black-belt classical music fans.

Singing together and moving together is not only a good game, but it has a developing effect on children and adults alike. On Tuesday mornings, we prepare music lessons for the little ones. The Hungarian Heritage Award Rocking session is available on a weekly basis at the House of Music. The classes are held by Gáll Viki. Recommended age: 0-3 years Maximum group size: 30 people

Adventures in music with the country's most entertaining and eloquent vocal music teacher. Not only is Árpád Tóth an excellent performer, choirmaster and artist, but his captivating performances can make even the most timid take a step forward.