Recently in Hungary Category

It's good to saturate yourself with the arts every now and then. That's the great thing about festivals. Back to back days filled with music, dance, and theater have the power to transport you to a realm outside your daily life. One of the best takes place in the Hungarian capital each spring. This year, the Budapest Spring Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary March 19 - April 5.

From orchestras to chamber music ensembles and choirs performing in church settings, the festival's classical music selection is vast. Pillars of the Eastern European classical music scene, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Hungarian National Philharmonic perform concerts dedicated to the work of Beethoven and Bartok, while piano virtuosos Tamas Vasary and Pawel Kowalski both showcase evenings devoted to Chopin. For dance lovers, a handful of international companies, including the Royal Danish Ballet and Ballet Flamenco de Andalucia bring Balanchine grace and the poetry of Garcia Lorca to the festival stage. Of course no artistic program in Hungary is complete without a little folk music and dance. Both the 100-Member Gypsy Orchestra and the Young Hearts Hungarian Dance Ensemble will add plenty of Carpathian flair.

With performances taking place at a dozen theaters, opera houses, and basilicas around the city, guests of the dazzling Le Méridien Budapest will be surrounded by a varied selection of exceptional performances during the Budapest Spring Festival's entire 18-day run. From Chopin to Shakespeare. The choice is yours.

The fairytale city of Budapest eases gracefully into fall with the Budapest Autumn Festival, one of Europe's biggest contemporary arts festivals. From October 9-18, 2009, more than a dozen venues throughout Budapest will host music, dance, theater, performance art, jazz, film, literature, and fine art exhibitions, all with the goal of promoting new art and reinforcing Budapest's cultural footprint in Europe. Among the highlights of this year's festival, the Amadinda Percussion Group will perform percussion versions of John Cage, György Ligeti and Steve Reich compositions on the main stage of the Thalia Theatre. The Zebra Crossing Theatre, meanwhile, doesn't need a special venue at all, as it performs brief vignettes on the striped crosswalks of Andrássy Avenue while cars holding a captive audience wait at the red light. And in the dance category, you've got to check out the world premier of the ARTUS - Gábor Goda Company's production RoosterRoosterRooster (pictured), which draws inspiration from a parable about the Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai. For the complete program, click here and get tickets for the exhibitions most likely to push your own boundaries. Guests at Le Méridien Budapest will enjoy this eclectic fall festival.

[image via Budapest Autumn Festival]

It's been a long, cold winter in Europe, but springtime is just around the corner, bringing with it a host of cultural festivals that herald the new season with music, theater, and celebrations of all kinds. Among the biggest and most diverse is the Budapest Spring Festival, which will be held March 20 - April 5, 2009. The arts on offer are as eclectic as Budapest itself, ranging from traditional opera, orchestral concerts, and folk music to cutting-edge dance, theater, and visual art. Among this year's highlights, the Palace of Arts will host An Evening with the Hungarian National Philharmonic on the Anniversary of Bartók's Birth, which pays tribute to the renowned Hungarian composer with performances of Rhapsody for Violin, Nos. 1 and 2 and Cantata Profana. The National Theatre provides an elegant setting for the Hungarian premiere of The Park, a play by German playwright Botho Strauss that provides a different take on A Midsummer Night's Dream. While the venues might be European, the art comes from around the world, and fans of African music won't want to miss Orchestra Baobab. The Senegalese group has been playing a mix of Afro-Cuban rhythms, Portuguese Creole melodies, and Congolese rumba since the 1970's, and will grace the stage at the Millenáris Teátrum on March 21 for a lively evening of uplifting sounds. The pounding drums form a stark counterpoint to the smooth strains of a symphony, but diversity leads to balance, and balance is good in culture and in life. The luxurious Le Mériden Budapest is just minutes from all the action.

[image via Budapest Spring Festival]