Heldenplatz

A 29-year-old female bass player from India. These few words are enough for most people to immediately think of Mohini Dey. Despite her young age, pages could be filled listing all the artists and festivals she has performed with and at since the age of nine. It was her father, also a bass player, who started her on her professional path, a journey which has so far brought her into contact with Steve Vai, Zakir Hussain, Quincy Jones, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Gergő Borlai.

It is not exclusively Hungarians that Müpa Budapest honours with the prestigious title of Artist of the Season: foreign musicians, such as the Russian piano virtuoso Denis Matsuev, for instance, have also been distinguished in this way. The prerequisites are obvious: a high level of professional excellence and a fruitful relationship with Müpa Budapest.

There can hardly be imagined in our time a work that conveys a more important message to humanity, as it debates the possible fate of the earth, about threats to the natural environment than Götterdämmerung does. Perhaps there is still time for us to return the ring to the Rhinemaidens.