Highlights to look out for at the Budapest Spring Festival 2019

Running until 22 April, the Budapest Spring Festival is a cultural cavalcade of exhibitions, theatre shows, special concerts and ballet performances. Here we choose ten key events for you to peruse.

1/10

David Lynch film series

In connection with the David Lynch exhibition, Small Stories, at the Budapest Photo Festival, a retrospective at the Urania National Film Theatre showcases his films. Tonight (8 April) is the turn of the wonderful Wild at Heart, a love story involving Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern in a road movie loosely based on The Wizard of Oz. Then comes Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which divided critics and fans of the cult TV series. The series ends with Lost Highway, a psychological film noir made in 1997. Before each screening, film historians and filmmakers provide an introduction.

Until 14 April
Urania National Film Theatre
District VIII. Rákóczi út 19
More details here.

2/10

Akvárium Spring Terrace

One of the most popular outdoor events around the capital, the Akvárium Spring Terrace also runs until 22 April. Key Hungarian musicians and new talent give free acoustic concerts, Look out for Middlemist Red frontman Nóve Soma, Robi Bérczesi, Anne Shirley Supersad and Duke Bluebeard. In addition, two star international performers also appear: Hamburg techno act MEUTE and American singer-songwriter Laura Gibson. On Sunday mornings, kids will be entertained by their favourite acts.

Until 22 April
Akvárium
District V. Erzsébet tér 12
More details here.

3/10

Budapest Art Week

Budapest Art Week brings together some 70 galleries, museums and exhibition spaces. Between 9-14 April, more than 90 exhibitions, guided tours, workshops, talks, film screenings and meet-the-artist sessions take place across the city. In addition, the focus of this year’s action will be on Russian contemporary art, giving you the chance to admire artists not yet exhibited in Hungary.

9-14 April
Various venues. More details here.

4/10

GoGo Penguin

The music of this Mancunian trio inspires the heart, head and feet – thought-provoking and danceable. Rock, jazz, minimalism mix with the musical world of video games. The simple, short, repetitive motifs on the piano, the bass supported by electronics and a massive rhythm produce a distinctive sound. Recently, they have performed with their own music for Godfrey Reggio's cult documentary Koyaanisqatsi and their latest album, A Humdrum Star, was released in early 2018. The band’s work appears on legendary American jazz label Blue Note.

10 April Müpa District IX. Komor Marcell utca 1 More details here.

5/10

Góbi Dance Company: Freestyle

Rita Góbi's work is a special combination of brave experimentation and precise choreography. Her style features geometry, minimalism and the pursuit of reduction. His latest performance on 10 April stars two dancers, Ruri and Rita in a show of physical vitality. Each reacts to the other during concentrated movements: running, jumping, and swimming above and below the water. However, this competition is not about speed or victory. Harmonious or disharmonious reactions to a mysterious body single out of a competitor (or even a fellow man) and give rise to a sense of struggle, the true purpose of sport. The battle on the dance floor is the competition of the living, moving bodies, but this time the participants fight with themselves rather than with the other.

10 April MU Theatre District XI. Kőrösy József utca 17 More details here.

6/10

Theater Basel Ballett: Tevye

The story of Tevye, the milkman, was made famous by the hit musical, Fiddler on the Roof. The Theater Basel Ballett ensemble first presented the motifs of Aleichem’s tales in the autumn of 2015, with Swiss klezmer band, Kolsimcha. This intense, fascinating performance gained considerable positive feedback from critics and public alike. It now comes to Budapest on 10 April.

10 April
Erkel Theatre
District VIII. II János Pál papa tér 30
More details here.

7/10

PONT Festival

Taking place between 12-14 April, the PONT Festival focuses on the Balkan region this year. During the day, free interactive family attractions, workshops and children's concerts await, while in the evening, performances show the rich tradition of the region. Acts such as Ágnes Herczku, Szilvia Bognár and Nikola Parov will each be making special shows for the occasion. World-famous cimbalom artist Kálmán Balogh and his musicians play Romanian tunes, and Albanians the Iso-Polyrythmic Orchestra will show the many facets of their tradition.

12-14 April
Around Budapest
More details here.

8/10

Emanuel Gat: SUNNY

Emanuel Gat, who appears at the Trafó for the fifth time on 12-13 April, is not only a choreographer, but also a theorist, as he has explained in his writings: he sees dance as a music. Music is not a starting point, but it is not a solution for it, because – as you write – we have to hear the dance without music. He treats his dancers as sound, each forming a separate vocabulary, where they run side by side, organically connected, forming a single independent organism. Creating SUNNY with musician Awir Leon, Emanuel Gate has conceived a vibrantly choreographed performance.

12-13 April
Trafó
District IX. Liliom utca 41
More details here.

9/10

Korean National Dance: Scent of Ink

The returning theme of Korean painting, with several centuries of tradition behind it, is the four plants that symbolise the four seasons: plum blossom (spring), orchids (summer), chrysanthemums (autumn) and bamboo (winter). The six scenes of this dance performance, with a prologue and epilogue, are built around the symbolism of these plants representing the four seasons. On a simple, snow-white stage, different images are revealed, inducing a meditative, contemplative state in the audience. The dancers’ movements seem to bring the paintings to life, while traditional Korean sanjo music lifts spectators out of their everyday existence.

18 April Müpa District IX. Komor Marcell utca 1 More details here.

10/10

Judith Hill

Singing partner of Michael Jackson, collaborator with Elton John and Robbie Williams, Judith Hill has a pedigree second-to-none. Also featured on the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom about backing vocalists, Hill issued her first solo record in 2015, produced by Prince. Back in Time was followed by Golden Child towards the end of 2018. Her show at Müpa will be accompanied by a four-piece band, guitar, bass, keyboards and drums.