Budapest Wagner Days 2023

Müpa Budapest is once again looking forward to welcoming lovers of classical music to see masterpieces of the musical stage in the early summer of 2023. The schedule for this year’s Budapest Wagner Days festival features, alongside the four performances of the Ring cycle in the production that was renewed technically in 2019, a unique concert. For their ‘Best of Wagner’ programme, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, which is celebrating its centenary this year, has selected excerpts from the composer’s entire oeuvre to be performed under the baton of the artistic director of the festival, Ádám Fischer. From the overture to Der fliegende Holländer to The Ride of the Valkyries, this event offers an assortment of famous passages whose magic still amazes after the hundredth listening. This concert is a great opportunity for those who are just getting to know Wagner to immerse themselves in the German composer’s immortal music, which also exerted a huge influence on Hollywood soundtracks.

The four evenings of the Ring promise yet another spiritual pilgrimage, engaging with questions that sensitively affect our times as well, with all the beauty of the legendary staging, renewed but still preserving its original character, and with singers of remarkable talent. Appearing as Wotan (but replaced by the world-famous bass-baritone Egils Silins for the character’s outing as the Wanderer in Siegfried) will be the monumental Günther Groissböck, with Müpa Budapest audience favourite Christian Franz tackling Loge, the formidable Hungarian (a source of pride for us) Péter Kálmán taking the stage as Alberich and the unforgettable Iréne Theorin as Brünnhilde. And of course, we will have the broad-minded and infinitely sensitive Ádám Fischer on the podium to define the spirit of the production.

Sip on some Wagner! Throughout the entire Budapest Wagner Days festivals, we attempt to appeal to all of the senses, and this year you can’t miss our line of craft beers whose unique flavours are inspired by characters from the Ring. The Szent András Brewery’s craft beers can be tasted in four flavours, in bottled and draft versions (Hagen, Brünnhilde). These beverages bearing the Budapest Wagner Days label can be purchased at Müpa Budapest’s snack bars, and you can even take all four characters home in a gift box.

• Alberich: a powerful stout reinforced with sour cherries and plums (7%)
• Brünnhilde: a decidedly hoppy and pleasantly spicy New England IPA flavoured with apricots and basil (5.6%)
• Hagen: a high extract content imperial pilsner with a strong hoppy flavour (7%)
• Siegmund: an unfiltered Bavarian wheat beer with citrus notes and a fruity banana aroma (4.9%)

Find your favourite!

Throughout the Budapest Wagner Days festival, we are ready to welcome you from behind the display counter of the Atrium snack bar on the ground floor, but also at the terrace snack bar on the fifth floor, where you can enjoy our selection of food and beverages in a renewed environment as you admire the unrivalled panorama of the Danube below. As in previous years, during the 50- and 60-minute intermissions in the performances of Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung on 16, 17 and 18 June, our guests can also order an à la carte dinner at the Bohemian Event Venue.

Gift Collection

Discover the Budapest Wagner-days merchandise available at Vince Bookshop: wear the highly praising words of the prestigious critic of the New York Times on a t-shirt, cool yourself in the summer heat with a lovely Wagner fan, or enjoy a walk around the city all year around with a Wagner themed backpack!