classical music, opera, theatre

Philip Glass, Godfrey Reggio: Naqoyqatsi - Life as War (2002)

Film concert featuring the Philip Glass Ensemble - Hungarian premiere

Béla Bartók National Concert Hall
  • Produced by Müpa Budapest

Ticket prices


Add this event to your Google Calendar.

After the success of Koyaanisqatsi, the American director Godfrey Reggio set out on the task of creating the rest of the Qatsi Trilogy. The titles of each of the three films are words borrowed from the language of the Hopi Indians. Although the works involve no plot or speaking, the music by Philip Glass is equal in importance to the visual sequences that it closely tracks. Powaqqatsi (Life in Transformation, 1988) depicts the disappearance of ancient cultures, and Naqoyqatsi (Life as War, 2002) illustrates the alienating effect of modern technologies on society. During the screening of the latter film, the music will be performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble in a new arrangement created by the composer especially for this occasion, with cello soloist Dániel Helecz and the Budafok Dohnanyi Orchestra also taking part.

This new arrangement of the piece was commissioned by the Ravenna Festival, Ireland's National Concert Hall, the Barbican Centre and Müpa Budapest.


Presented by: Müpa Budapest
  • Michael Riesman
  • sound
    Dan Bora
  • saxophone
    Peter Hess
  • onstage sound
    Ryan Kelly
  • keyboards
    Mick Rossi
  • saxophone, flute
    Sam Sadigursky
  • flute, piccolo
    Andrew Sterman
  • keyboards
    Feico Deutekom
  • cello
    Dániel Helecz
  • Budafok Dohnanyi Orchestra
  • music
    Philip Glass
  • written and directed by
    Godfrey Reggio
  • Philip Glass Ensemble production manager
    Michael Amacio

Ticket information

You may purchase tickets online and in person for this performance using a Müpa Budapest gift voucher or by OTP, K&H or MBH SZÉP cards. If you purchase the tickets in person, then we also accept Rewin Gift Vouchers, and Rewin Gift Cards as well as the culture subaccount allowance on OTP Cafeteria cards.

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.

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.




Ugrás az oldal tetejére