Music has played a major role in Hungarian history and culture over the years.
You can find music in the churches, from the Opera, the Hungarian National Philharmonic to the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
I chose a fun Hungarian Folk Ensemble Concert at the Danube Palace at Zrinyi Utca 5. It featured great music with excellent violinists as well as traditional folk dances. My favorite was the cimbalom, an Hungarian Gypsy instrument where strings are struck with metal mallets. Music included Brahms’ Hungarian Dance and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody.
The Hungarian State Opera is located in a gorgeous building that opened in 1884. Check out their website to see if you can attend an opera or ballet production while you are in town. I loved attending a concert on my last night in town with the Hungarian National Philharmonic performing the Mahler 3 with full chorus and a soloist. It was a wonderful evening in a really gorgeous setting. I recommend buying tickets online and printing them before you leave for your trip. Andrassy Utca 22.
If you are a classical music fan, there is also the Museum of Music History located at Trancsics Mihaly Utca 7. It was interesting to see some wonderful antique pianos and instruments as well as some of Bartok’s original music and writings.
Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum: Located not far from the Hungarian State Opera is the Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Center. There is a small museum where you can see the composer and teacher’s apartment and rooms where he lived and taught between 1881 and 1886. There are personal furniture and effects, music and instruments. Check out their website as there are often concerts on weekends. Korosmarty Utca 35 at the corner of Andrassy.