A forgotten French Romantic composer, an unfamiliar opera and a story about a city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and the lives of its inhabitants. This evening is an opportunity for us to excavate exciting finds from the grey layers of the ashes of time. Félicien David's opera was praised even by Berlioz. Presenting the work will be an international cast of singers under the baton of György Vashegyi, who has worked tirelessly for many years to popularise neglected treasures of music history.
Félicien David (1810-1876) was a student of Cherubini's; a contemporary of Liszt and the great Romantics Schumann, Mendelssohn, Wagner and Verdi, he wrote numerous operas. One of the most famous of these was the four-act Herculanum, first staged in 1859. The plot of the piece set against the backdrop of a looming natural catastrophe and its eventual devastation is a love drama of temptation and deception between the pagan Romans and the representatives of the new Christian faith. If we add that ...Satan appears in the story, first in disguise and later revealing himself, one can see how powerfully the expressive style of David's work uses the extreme devices of Romanticism. The core of the production's international cast of singers consists of three French artists - soprano Gabrielle Philiponet, mezzo-soprano Aude Extrémo, tenor Cyrille Dubois and baritone Thomas Dolié - along with American bass-baritone Douglas Williams. György Vashegyi, who started his highly significant journey of exploration into the French repertoire with Rameau and operas from the Baroque period, also leads Hungarian music listeners across Classical and Romantic landscapes conducting works by Méhul, Cherubini, David and others.
Presented by: Hungarian National Philharmonic
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Refreshments – Without the Queue
Thanks to our new catering service at the Átrium Snack Bar, you can forget about waiting in line during intermissions for some refreshments and get your order prepped especially for you by the time the intermission actually starts. Find out more about pre-ordering here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.