- The letter of intent signed by the Palace of Arts (MÜPA) and the Budapest Festival Orchestra now registers the birth of a specific form of co-operation, the strategic partnership. The partnership agreement shall, on the one hand, set into a more solid frame the former co-operation, but shall, on the other hand, have a different, more important significance and meaning, since it declares the fact that the Budapest Festival Orchestra is at home at the MÜPA. It expresses the strong and deepening relations, and opens opportunities with regard to the future which have not as yet been explored. This will be realised, on the one hand, at the contextual level, namely when compiling the programmes, while on the other, it shall appear at the level of marketing and communication – said Csaba Káel, at the joint press conference of the two institutions held on 07 February this year, where the declaration expressing the intention to co-operate was signed together with Stefan Englert, managing director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. - In my opinion, starting the strategic co-operation is a logical step, partly because we are already participating in a large number of joint productions, and partly because this time one of the best orchestras of the world and one of the best performance art centres start to co-operate with each other. The Festival Orchestra performs at least thirty concerts in this building per year, the MÜPA is our most important concert venue, and we feel at home here – declared Stefan Englert. In the future, the two institutions shall regularly agree upon their programme and the soloists. The Palace of Arts also intends to facilitate for the soloists invited by the Festival Orchestra to appear in the programmes of the institution in a more enigmatic manner by means of chamber concerts and master courses. In addition to the continuation of the previous projects, the two institutions also undertake the obligation to create additional co-productions of importance which shall be represented jointly by the two parties abroad. The institutions, which are equally committed to educate the future audience of classical music, are looking for new ways and opportunities for musical education. For this purpose, the partner schools of MÜPA shall be free to visit the rehearsals of the Festival Orchestra. Within the framework of the strategic partnership agreement, the Palace of Arts (MÜPA) and the Budapest Festival Orchestra shall endeavour to appear on the surfaces and in the spaces of the other party, clearly reflecting this way their strategic partnership. The strategic co-operation shall appear in the publications issued about the performances abroad of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and also at the venues of these performances; visual and contextual appearances with similar content shall accompany all the performances of the Festival Orchestra at the Palace of Arts. One of the best orchestras of the world and the institution which is in the frontline of the performance art centres of the world have been co-operating with each other since 2005, the year when the MÜPA was opened. The idea of a unique artistic form, which is rarely realised in the repertoire of the music performances of the world, namely the “marathon”, was born after the first joint Mahler-fiesta and the initiative of Iván Fischer has then become a production characterising the image of MÜPA. The series of marathons started with Tchaikovsky, which was followed by Dvorak in 2009, Beethoven in 2010 and Schubert in 2011. Those who are appreciative of music and the non-professionals had the chance to immerse in and absorb the art of the greatest composers at the marathon concerts which have always attracted full house. A unique form of art was born from the meeting of the euphoric festival atmosphere and the concerts of specific quality. The first joint Mozart opera performance of the two institutions, the Cosí fan tutte, was also put on stage in 2008, which was followed, in 2009, by The Marriage of Figaro, and in 2011 by Don Giovanni. One of the most apparent proofs of the ever tighter co-operation between the organisers is that, according to the plans, the above series shall be continued in 2013 with another piece of art. MuPa.hu