Association Amis de l’opera Monte-Carlo

Thursday, April 9

Arrival in Budapest (flights to be booked individually - direct flight from Nice with Wizzair 4:25 p.m.-6:15 p.m.) and check-in at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace hotel.

Welcome dinner

Friday, April 10

Morning: tour of Buda (St. Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion, etc.), then transfer to the Great Central Market for a tour and lunch on your own

Afternoon at leisure

7 p.m.: Messa di Gloria followed by Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni at the State Opera House

For years now, the Hungarian State Opera has followed the tradition of performing the only masterpiece that specifically takes place at the holiday. The central figure of this story, set in a Sicilian village on Easter Sunday, is Santuzza (meaning “little saint” in Italian), who is left by her lover for a married woman. With Cavalleria rusticana, whose protagonists are everyday people who fall victim to their own, unbridled passions, Mascagni created one of the most important pieces of verismo that made its composer famous and recognised at once following its 1890 premiere.

Beside the concert version of the opera, the programme also features a beautiful early work by the same composer: Messa di Gloria is abundant in ideas and a true piece of romantic music exalting the resurrection.

Dinner after the performance (9:45 p.m.) and return to the hotel

Saturday, April 11

Morning: visit to Andrássy Avenue, Heroes' Square, Vajdahunyad Castle Courtyard, the House of Music building, and the Ethnographic Museum building.

Free time for lunch and afternoon

7 p.m.: Nadine Sierra in recital at the State Opera House

Perfect technique, ease, and endless musicality – this is how the young soprano is described, who will appear at the penultimate Stars’ Recitals with Piano concert of the season. Nadine Sierra’s 2025/26 season is a packed one: she sings the female title role in Roméo et Juliette at the Vienna State Opera, then Gilda in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She takes on Violetta in La traviata, Amina in La sonnambula, Maria in West Side Story… She performs not only in operas but also in concerts and solo recitals in Barcelona, Paris, and London – alongside the greatest conductors. And with a solo recital she will also surprise the Budapest audience.

Dinner after the performance (9 p.m.) and return to the hotel

Sunday, April 12

Visit to the Great Synagogue and the Jewish Quarter

Free time for lunch and afternoon

Dinner at the famous Gundel restaurant and return to the hotel

RATE of €3,000 per person in a Superior double room (+ €800 for a room occupied by one person)

or €3,500 per person in a Danube view room (+ €1,100 for a room occupied by one person) including:

4 nights' accommodation with breakfast at the Four Seasons Gresham palace, tickets to the State Opera, airport transfers, dinners, and tours

Monday, April 13

Check out and departure from Budapest (Wizzair 1:45 p.m.-3:50 p.m. arrival in Nice)