It is an exciting thing when a single concert offers a chance to look at both the start and the end of an artist's career. This performance does just that with the output of the greatest composer of symphonies of the 20th century, not to mention doing so by surveying his initial youthful steps from the perspective of the final ones taken at the conclusion of his life. The programme features two symphonies: the completed first one and the surviving fragment of the final one. Mahler has become a symbol of Vienna (much like his great predecessors, who also gravitated to the city from elsewhere, as he did), and playing his works on this occasion will be another one of its symbols: the celebrated and storied Vienna Philharmonic.
Founded in 1842, the ensemble is the orchestra of tradition and self-awareness. The former feature requires little explanation: their style and sound make them the trustees of the inimitable ideal of 'Viennese-ness'. Their New Year's concerts are broadcast across five continents, and they have played under the batons of such conductors as Brahms, Richard Strauss and Mahler himself, followed later on by Wilhem Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Leonard Bernstein and, more ...recently, the likes of Christian Thielemann and Andris Nelsons. As for self-awareness: they do not elect a chief music director, but instead are independent musicians who decide on their own affairs under a system of self-government. Taking the podium for this concert will be Daniel Harding. A former assistant to both Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, the English conductor and current steward of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra has already appeared at Müpa Budapest several times, always to great acclaim, performing works by Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Mahler. In the oeuvre of the latter, the First Symphony and 'Wunderhorn Romanticism' are life-affirming representations of innocence and aching purity, while the ethereal and transfigured sound of the unfinished Tenth Symphony presages the modernism of the 20th century.
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
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.