Margaret Island Theater is the country’s most exclusive open-air summer theater, located in the heart of Budapest and embraced by the Danube River, amid the stunning natural and man-made environment of Margaret Island.
With its iconic Water Tower in the courtyard, Margaret Island Theater is a top summer venue – not just for Budapest, but the whole country. It is also a significant tourist attraction with its commitment is to quality entertainment a program that reflects both cultural content and value.
Built in 1938 with a capacity of nearly 3000 and equipped with its own dock, the Margaret Island Main Stage is home to Budapest’s largest mixed-arts festival over the summer months.
Running from May till August, The Margaret Island Summer Festival is the country’s longest and most colorful cultural festival, appealing to local and international visitors alike, as well as every age group in the family, with more than 70 programs – mostly its own productions in a wide variety of genres.
While permanent theatres are closed for the summer, Margaret Island Theater takes over the role of arts institutions and providers active during the season. The festival, with its vast array of programs on offer, ensures the continuity of the capital city’s cultural life, bolstering Budapest’s status and fame as a cultural capital and city for all seasons.
Margaret Island’s Open-Air Stage is the country’s only (and, at the same time, its oldest) constructed open-air stage, which hosts epic, spectacular productions in the genes of opera, operetta, opera galas, ballet, contemporary dance, musicals, classical music, film music, jazz, pop, and crossover concerts, in addition to world and folk music.
Throughout the main tourist season, we stage operas, musicals, dance and prose productions, as well as popular music, classical, symphonic, and jazz concerts, featuring the most outstanding musicians, artists, and companies from home and abroad.
Margaret Island Theatre regularly collaborates with the country’s most renown artistic institutions. Our partners include the Hungarian State Opera House, the National Philharmonic, Hungarian Radio’s Music Ensembles, the Dohnányi Orchestra of Budafok, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Danubia Orchestra of Óbuda, the National Theatre of Győr, the National Theatre of Kecskemét, the Petőfi Theatre of Veszprém, and the Danube Arts Society.
Margaret Island Open-Air Stage is a venue where our country’s celebrities and international stars can meet. In the years preceding the pandemic, we hosted an increasing number of foreign guests – both onstage and in our audience. We eagerly await their return.
Here is a partial list of the local and international artists that we have hosted over the past years: Zoltán Kocsis, Ferenc Snétberger, Andrea Rost, Éva Miklósa, Félix Lajkó, Gergely Kesselyák, Gábor Bretz, the Budapest Bar Band, Yuja Wang, Hilary Hahn, Boban Markovič, Ron Carter, Stanley Jordan, Stacey Kent, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the Globe Theatre of London, the Bejart Ballet of Lausanne, the Ballet Maribori of Slovenia, the multiple Grammy Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir, the Pink Martini ensemble, Buena Vista Social Club, and Elodie Frégé, as well as world-famous opera singers such as Piotr Beczala, Aida Garifullina, Erwin Schrott, Béatrice Uria Monzon, Maria Agresta, and Francesco Meli.
Over the summer months, another cultural tourist attraction is the Water Tower, which operates as the Visual Art Gallery and a breathtaking look-out point.
Considering all its attributes, assets, and advantages, Margaret Island Open-Air Stage is one of Central Europe’s most gorgeous venues. In fulfillment of its mission, it is worthy of assuming its rightful place among the celebrated summer open-air theatres of the world such as Salzburg, Verona, Mörbisch, Chorégies d’Orange, and Castell de Peralada.
We cordially invite you to be our guest!
