The programmes for the Vienna Philharmonic's recent guest appearances at Müpa Budapest have been compiled with great consideration for the Budapest audience. They always bring with them something that links together the musical cultures of the two peoples. On one such occasion, their superb (and Hungarian) principal double bassist, Ödön Rácz, performed Vanhal's Concerto for Double Bass, and on another Péter Eötvös led the ensemble in performing his own Oratorium balbulum, composed to text by Péter Esterházy. Now, in the year marking the 150th anniversary of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, they will be gracing us with a programme drawn exclusively from the two countries. Following Ferenc Erkel's Festival Overture, which includes a passage from his own opera Sarolta in addition to quoting his Himnusz and Béni Egressy's Szózat, the concerto format will be represented with the Sinfonia Contertante in B-flat major by Haydn, a composer connected to Hungary's music culture in many ways. The second part of the concert continues with Bartók's Concerto, the weightiest part of the programme, and concludes with Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz, a piece that links Budapest and Vienna in the strict sense of the word with its musical depiction of the river that flows through both capitals.
Zubin Mehta, who studied in his youth in Vienna and attended Hans Swarowsky's legendary conducting course, enjoys a musical friendship of long standing with the Vienna Philharmonic - of which both conductor and orchestra have provided ample proof at their previous appearances at Müpa Budapest.

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Presented by: Müpa Budapest