12 Best Performing Arts in Budapest, Hungary

World-renowned conductor Iván Fischer, who is still music director, formed the group with famed Hungarian conductor Zoltán Kocsis in 1983. The orchestra has won international accolades and is hands-down your best bet for classical music in Budapest. International soloists and conductors are often invited to perform with the orchestra. Its home base was previously Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, but since 2005 the orchestra has also performed regularly at the new Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in the Művészetek Palotája (Palace of the Arts), and they have monthly Sunday Chamber Music concerts in their rehearsal hall on this side of the river, in Buda.Tickets can be purchased online or at several locations around Budapest, including Ticket Express and the Liszt Ferenc Academy.

This magnificent art nouveau music academy presides over the cafés and gardens of Liszt Ferenc tér. Along with the Vigadó, it's one of the city's main concert halls, hosting orchestra and chamber music concerts in its splendid main hall. On summer days the sound of daytime rehearsals from inside adds to the sweetness in the air along the pedestrian oasis of café society, just off buzzing Andrássy út.

The academy itself has two auditoriums: a green-and-gold 1,200-seat main hall and a smaller hall for chamber music and solo recitals. Farther along the square is a dramatic statue of Liszt Ferenc (Franz Liszt) himself, hair blown back from his brow, seemingly in a flight of inspiration. Pianist Ernő (Ernst) Dohnányi and composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály were teachers here.

You can purchase tickets to all performances and classical music concerts held at the academy through the ticket office. It's sometimes even possible to grab a standing-room ticket just before a performance.

Miklós Ybl's crowning achievement, built between 1875 and 1884, is the glittering neo-Renaissance opera house. It's Budapest's main venue for opera and classical ballet, and it also presents an international repertoire of classical and modern works as well as such Hungarian favorites as Kodály's Háry János. Badly damaged during the siege of 1944–45, it was restored for its 1984 centenary.

Two buxom marble sphinxes guard the driveway; the main entrance is flanked by Alajos Strobl's "romantic-realist" limestone statues of Liszt and of another 19th-century Hungarian composer, Ferenc Erkel, the father of Hungarian opera (his patriotic opera Bánk bán is still performed for national celebrations).

Inside, the spectacle begins even before the performance does. You glide up grand staircases and through wood-paneled corridors and gilt lime-green salons into a glittering jewel box of an auditorium. Its four tiers of boxes are held up by helmeted sphinxes beneath a frescoed ceiling by Károly Lotz. Lower down there are frescoes everywhere, with intertwined motifs of Apollo and Dionysus. In its early years the Budapest Opera was conducted by Gustav Mahler (1888–91), and after World War II by Otto Klemperer (1947–50).

You can't view the interior on your own, but 45-minute tours in English are usually conducted daily; buy tickets in the Opera Sales Sentre (Opera Értékesítési Centrum) near the Hajós utca entrance. (Large groups should call in advance.)

Of course, the best way to experience the Opera House is to see a ballet or opera. The main season runs from September to mid-June, and includes about 50 major productions, including about five new opera premieres a year. Tickets, which are available online as well as at the box office, are relatively affordable and easy acquire.

Except during the two-week international opera and ballet festival in mid-August, the Opera House is closed in summer. That said, the National Opera Company sometimes performs at various outdoor stages and festivals during the off-season, and can be heard almost nightly on several local classical radio stations.

In southern Pest, at the foot of Rákóczy (aka Lágymányosi) Bridge, right beside the similarly grand National Theater, this monumental (750,000-square-foot) venue known as Műpa is where the capital's entertainment fans feast on a wide array of musical, theatrical, and dance performances in addition to fine dining. On the outside the Palace of Arts does indeed look palatial, in a very modern sense. The inside, as spacious and as sparkling as it is, contains plenty of intimate, well-cushioned little nooks on all floors on both sides of its Béla Bartók National Concert Hall—which occupies its center and has world-class acoustics—where you can take a seat and ponder life and/or art.

Although it's a bit of a trek from the city center to Fonó, on the outskirts of Buda, it is a great place to see live folk acts. The music house has its own bar, several performance stages, and even its own folk-music CD shop. Concerts and dance houses are held on a near-nightly basis, and tickets are bought when you enter the music house.

At the Fővárosi Nagycirkusz, colorful performances by local acrobats, clowns, and animal trainers, as well as by international artists, are staged in a small ring. Beware of pickpockets out front by the timeworn snack-bar. The left-hand staircase up from the lobby will take you past a small bust of Rodolfó, Hungary's most beloved stage magician from the 20th century. The schedule is subject to change; book tickets in advance online.

The 30-member ensemble, formed in 1951, performs at the beautiful, eclecticist Hagyományok Háza (Hungarian Heritage House), known for its architectural motifs of flowers and birds. Choreography is based on authentic dances that date back hundreds of years. It's considered to be one of the top folk groups worldwide, having performed in 50 countries. The ensemble gives between 100 and 120 shows in Budapest annually at their venue.

Round and colonnaded in front and square in back, Hungary's massive, preeminent national theatrical venue is a spectacular blend of modern and classical, flanked by an even grander neighbor, the Palace of the Arts. There are nightly performances on at least one of two stages inside the theater.

The spacious square out front and to the side is something to behold—though, admittedly, different folks behold it differently. The large reflecting pool contains a toppled-over, life-size ancient theater facade and three eternal flames. The bow of a ship, which you can walk on, overlooks the pool. Elsewhere scattered about the square—some on benches, others standing—are eight metal statues of late, great Hungarian thespians of the 20th century, each performing a legendary role.

Nearby the theater is a compellingly round structure that's aptly nicknamed the Tower of Babel and that houses a small exhibit gallery. In no time you can walk up the path that winds around its outer perimeter to the top for a modest view of the Buda hills and of the surrounding new architecture on the Pest side. Kids love to get lost in the fascinating little labyrinth of hedges at the foot of the tower. Explore the grounds or come for a show. English subtitles are available for some performances, but it is always best to double-check.

This fiery group of 60 dancers together with its world-famous orchestra combines ballet and modern dance forms with elements of folklore and operetta programs for an impressive musical and dance program. Founded in 1952, you can catch their show at MÜPA, the Duna Palota, the Budapest Bábszínház, and other big stages around town. Check their website for performance locations and schedule.

Whether you are planning to go to the Budapest Spring Festival, a performance, or even a sporting event, most people in the city look to this agency to make their bookings. It has an English-language website, making it easy for foreigners to use it as well. Plus, there are some 85 outlets all over Budapest if you want to book in advance. The call center is open weekdays 9–5.

A former electrical transformer station in Pest, the Trafó building today showcases contemporary and alternative dance, theater, and music performances by Hungarian and international companies. English subtitles are often available, but it's best to check ahead.