Mathias Church concert - tickets needed?

We loved the concert at Matthias Church, and that provides you entry as well and can walk around to see its beauty after the concert. We had tickets and I do not recall that you could purchase them at church. Nighttime in that location is just wonderful!

Thank you for the information! I was not seeing tickets for the concert on the website but will take another look.

If anyone finds and online source other than the consolidators, please post it. Otherwise I bought twice from these guys. https://www.classictic.com/en/city/budapest-t18/budapest-events-ec1/budapest-church-concerts-el2896/

But you can buy visitor entrance tickets here: https://matyas-templom.hu/en/buy-tickets/

Thank you Mr. E! Appreciate the link to the tickets!

That link above is way pricier than the link i've been using to wrangle my concert options (i'm here a week+ now).

Concerts in Budapest...

The price difference between the other link and this one is like $20-30 per ticket, so I'd advise paying attention and figuring out the conversions before purchasing. But I'm pretty sure mine is where you wanna be.

Thank you. As long as you get your ticket no need to pay more.

Chris, here is the problem with your answer and with mine. I believe that the reason the churches dont sell tickets is because the churches do not sponsor concerts, they just rent space to third parties. Your link and mine were to one third party and this one apparently has rented the place on Monday and Friday. Here is another (organ concert) that for about $15 has Saturday and Sunday: https://www.jegy.hu/venue/matyas-templom and I have seen yet others in the past. Sometimes its one off performances by international choirs or musicians that tour Europe doing these sorts of venues.

Thanks all, for the quick and helpful responses! So helpful!

i think various vendors sell the tickets, thus the variable prices. who knows what's happening on the back end with promoters and re-sellers and all.

for anyone planning, generally there are repeating, rotational concerts by a local ensemble called the "duna string orchestra" at all these churches around town--matthias, st stephen's and st michael's. 2 nights each, 6 nights/week in all. depending on the set, they will have featured soloists along as well. the only night they don't perform is thursday. plus organ performances mixed in.

it's honestly frustrating to sort out your options--then ensure you're not overpaying too much. i went through it the past few weeks.

i actually thought the evening concerts were overpriced. they're only an hour, or slightly longer. $50 for the cheapest seats? ehh. i'd planned to see daytime and evening student shows at the liszt academy, but didn't reserve my free tickets in time and they booked out. d'oh. weekend performances at the liszt museum (solo piano recital) were excellent. $10 equivalent with admission or free on museum night (only on june 20th). the house of music also does a variety of shows from classical to jazz and random ethnic stuff from around the globe. i also believe the jewish quarter has some live traditional music on thursday evenings out in the street. saw an ad one day, but missed the tunes. i'd look into that too.

i'd also recommend the organ at st stephen's for anyone who is keen. free mini concerts mondays at 430. if you're gonna visit, may as well time it and enjoy a free show. lasts a solid half hour +.

A few years ago, a couple of friends came to town and wanted to see an organ concert at the Basilica. It was an organ and gentlemen on a soprano sax and a vocalist. I had never been to a church concert here because I had a preconceived idea about them. But they were paying (bought from that first link I posted). Turns out I enjoyed it. I had no idea how much they paid and that seems a bit crazy. Then my son came down from Germany with the same idea. Sure, not bad, and again I am not paying. Again, very well done and a different selection of music so … good. Again, same link. So that’s the extent of my experience.

Here there are two forms of entertainment, that for the locals and that for the tourists. The prices are dictated accordingly. Not that they are trying to soak the tourists, just that the locals would have no entertainment they could afford if it were at Western European prices. You have no idea looking around this city, just how low the incomes are.

Occasionally in District VII at Spinoza the house band will play outside in front of the restaurant / theater. Every evening they have music with dinner and on Friday they do a dinner / Klezmer concert evening. The price is fair for that event and having the opportunity to hear Klezmer makes it worth the effort. https://spinoza-restaurant.hu/ Spinoza is also interesting as it was one of the earliest state (and Dutch government … hence the name) sponsored attempts to revitalize the Jewish quarter. There might be other street music in the district, but I haven’t run into it, but I don’t spend much time in the district in the evenings. Too old for that.

As chris pointed out the Hungarian House of Music has many inexpensive and often free concerts. Very much focused on the local population, which for me adds to the reason to go. https://zenehaza.hu/ Pretty stunning modern architecture as well.

There is a long list of performance venues and restaurants with music here. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/updated-budapest-performance-venue-list

Thank you Chris and Mr. E for all the great advice on music in Budapest. It's known for being such a great city for live music, I feel like I really need to experience a few concerts in various venues. I'm starting my list now!