This unique attraction redefines the existing concept of musical spaces, inside and out. Besides concerts and educational programs, House of Music offers state-of-the-art exhibitions and experiences.
Level -2 is dedicated to the magic of music and sounds, i.e. where music is presented from different aspects but with the same idea behind: to introduce the world of music to all. It is guaranteed that one will learn something new about music regardless of musical background or age.
Visitors take part on a journey of three distinct but closely related elements to discover the musical sphere in its entirety:
- The Dimension of Sound Exhibition: learn the history and diversity of music through our interactive permanent exhibition
- The Creative Sound Space: understand the nature of music and challenge yourselves in free-play area
- The Sound Dome: discover the alchemy of sound, lights and images.
The three components use innovative state-of-the-art technological solutions to ensure a unique customer experience, a WOW factor to all generations.
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
The state-of-the-art main exhibition, The Dimension of Sound, visitors experience a musical journey on thousand sqm. The exhibition focuses on the great moments of the history of European and Hungarian music in a playful, interactive and immersive way, guided by personal headsets and filled with interactive stops. Guests hear music playing during the whole visit: the sound system tracks the visitors’ movements and actual position and guides them through the exhibition. Media panels, touchscreens, smart solutions, gamified exercises, playful interactive stops link guests with the narrative, the composers, the music, etc. Guests become active participants of the show.
SOUND DOME
The Sound Dome is an innovative crossover between a cinema and a concert hall. It offers an intimate and immersive audio-visual experience in a dome-shaped space. The Sound Dome is a dome-cupola with a 180-degree projection screen with a 27.4 channel sound system behind it. Anyone sitting in the middle will hear sounds coming from all directions. The world of sounds is presented from nature to composed music, but the experience visitors have here expands beyond this dimension. It’s a unique creation with unforeseeable potential.
The building’s most innovative attraction dedicates one evening every month to the presentation of live audio-visual performances. This space is not only a tool for contemporary music, but also provides an opportunity for experiments and sound reproductions of three-dimensional sound experiences. Guests experience music and sounds going through their body and soul!
CREATIVE SOUND SPACE
The Creative Sound Space invites guests to play on so-far never existed unique instruments, specifically invented and built for the purpose to understand how simple sounds can become music.
This space celebrates innovation. There are interactive instruments that enable guests to create the components of music, and thus materialising the whole process of sound and music creation.
By using ingenious devices visitors can experiment and study several aspects of sound such as pitch, vibration, tone and rhythm.
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
The Sound Dimension, our permanent exhibition can be compared to a movie, in which the visitor walks through a story, as one of its present-day characters, while also meeting other characters – from the past.
Upon arriving at the exhibition space, visitors put on their headsets and from then on, they can immerse themselves in the music: they can listen to almost 300 short excerpts from the past two millennia, in amazing sound quality. It is important to note that this is not an exhibition of objects and documents, but of experiences: installations, animated projections, touch screens, interviews, excerpts of concerts and performances, etc. Those interested can expect an amazingly interactive and playful exhibition, which has a carefully planned dramaturgy and curated script. Visitors can wander around here for up to two or three hours and will still want to come back another time too.
The musical history adventure begins at the age of the prehistoric man, when music was born. Visitors while standing over the fire and start drumming can experience the magic of communal music making. As drumming begins the forest appears in a huge screen in front of the visitors. The rout of our folk music also takes place in this part. We invite visitors to go on an adventure around the great rivers of the Urals and the Caucasus. The ethnic groups living here once also met the Hungarians and left their mark on the ancient layers of the Hungarian folk music. Walking on the map, the roots of Hungarian folk music can be recognized. And distant faces come closer to us visually through an archive of photos.
The first milestone in music history was the appearance of written music, followed by polyphony, and then another turning point, the birth of the genre of opera. Guests can take part in and even conduct a Gregorian concert, can listen to the music of Angels under a basilica’s dome and earn about the greatest masters, Haydn, Bach, Mozart, while an 18th-century map of Europe comes to life on a virtual field table.
The classical string quartet is an invention of Haydn, in one of our installation all visitors can participate in the string quartet party game, and in fact, visitors can only play the entire work together. One chair, one instrument, one voice. Two chairs, two instruments, two voices…and so on. It’s worth getting in! Guests can actively also help Mozart to start one of his journeys.
The exhibition highlights the creation of the Hungarian national opera, and of course the 20th century. The exhibition also highlights how technological development and innovations have their marks on composing, presenting, listening, sharing and storing music. From the phonograph to arrive to our present time, to the cloud, where we are surrounded by many kinds of music, noise and sounds.
CREATIVE SOUND SPACE
How is sound created? How can it be controlled? What are its characteristics? What does it have to do with light, space or time? What kind of experience does it offer you? You can find the answers to all these questions in the Creative Sound Space. The eight different installations present different sides to an infinitely rich world of sounds. You can play music in the Creative Sound Space even if you may never have had the opportunity to play musical instruments. Guests, however, need to forget everything what they may know of music composing and conducting. These innovative instruments require a very different frame-of-mind!
In this free-play area, anyone can try themselves out as the conductor of the Orchestrion virtuoso robot-orchestra, or record their first sound recording in the Creative Recording Studio, create four-part rhythm compositions on the Rhythm Vehicle, or admire how the sounds of a hundred-year-old electro instrument, the Chladni-Theremin create the most beautiful geometrical patterns.
SOUND DOME
One of the most prominent features of the House of Music is the Sound Dome, which was inspired by the 20th century composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, who created the first 3D aural experience in the form of a spherical concert hall at the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka, Japan. The structure offers a fully immersive experience that accommodates up to 30 visitors. The 180-degree dome is also a projection screen, and the 27.4-channel ambisonic sound system is located behind it. Here, those who sit in the middle of the square can turn their heads! In the Sound Dome sounds, images, films, colours, music notes all have their own role in the creation of a really unique experience. Every show has its own story, with different musical pieces with matching images from contemporary compositions to sounds and images of nature.
ABOUT HOUSE OF MUSIC HUNGARY
The designer of the House of Music, Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto envisioned an extravagant, modern building. He drew inspiration from both nature and music itself.
Both sources are evident in every detail of the house: the trademark ‘floating’ roof was inspired by sound waves, the visual image of vibrating sound. Fujimoto has also placed great emphasis on breaking down the boundaries between nature and the built environment. As a result, you feel as if you are still strolling in the park, while already entering the building.
The 3 levels of our visitor area include:
- Exhibitions underground (as already highlighted at the beginning of this introduction)
- Concerts on the ground floor
- With a capacity of 300-550 persons, the Concert Hall hosts a variety of live music shows and related workshops with artists arriving from Hungary and all over the world.
- The 80-110 capacity Auditorium offers a smaller venue for more intimate concerts, educational programs and masterclasses.
- The concerts on the Open-Air Stage, which are typically free of charge, serve as a showcase for the House of Music, fulfilling our core mission of making music accessible to anyone who visits the City Park in Budapest.
- Study area upstairs
- The Multimedia Library and Club offers an opportunity to study, to deepen knowledge and to acquire new skills, focusing on pop, traditional and jazz genres.
ABOUT OUR MISSION
Direct approach – In its size and ethos, the House of Music Hungary invites visitors to gather personal experiences. Our concerts, educational programs and interactive exhibitions offer a new perspective: discoveries and a firm basis of knowledge provided to all our visitors, regardless of their musical background.
The will to explore – Visitors can learn something new about music at all corners of our home and all the programs we offer. From the second guests enter the House, they will be instantly aware of a receptive, immersive atmosphere that will inspire them to explore.
Unique experiences – Our events are always unique and definitely not to miss. Performances are born to build bridges between different genres, present new formats and give way to innovations both during our concerts and educational programs.
More information can be found here.