Which concert to book

What the concerts are

St Stephen's Basilica is a working Catholic church that also hosts evening concerts. The basilica says it leases its space to outside organisers, who sell the tickets and are responsible for the event, and it asks that the music be approved by its music committee and be sacred, mainly classical. Its own concert page lists regular organ concerts nearly all year, sold by several organisers. That explains why Budapest has several concert tickets for one building: they differ in programme, performers and seat classes, not in the room. This site shows two of them, plus a third concert in another church. The music changes with the date, so read the programme for yours before you choose. Weigh each option on its own page, because the organisers differ.

The main ticket: three programmes

The main ticket sells three concerts. The Requiem programme lists Mozart's Requiem in D minor, K. 626, movement by movement. The organ concert programme runs from Bach's Toccata and Air to Widor's Toccata, with Handel, Albinoni, Vivaldi, Gounod, Liszt, Franck, Massenet, Schubert and Mozart between. The third, Ave Maria Air Alleluja II, is a mixed bill that adds Purcell, Sibelius and Vivaldi's Winter, and a variant of it is listed for 25 and 31 December. Which programme runs depends on the day, and each has four seating classes. Several of the pieces, such as the Ave Marias and Handel's Largo, are widely known. The performers are not named, so the line-up on your date is the detail to check. Each date's page shows which programme applies.

Read next: Mozart's Requiem

The one date held elsewhere

A note on the ticket says the concert on 30 December takes place in the Matthias Church on Castle Hill, not in the basilica. It is easy to miss on a long page, and it changes where you must be that evening. If you are booking around the turn of the year, open the calendar for your exact date and read the meeting point in your confirmation before you plan the route. The two churches are in different parts of the city, so allow time to reach the right one, and tell anyone travelling with you. Everything else in this guide describes the basilica, so it applies to the other dates, including 25 and 31 December.

The organ concert ticket

The second card is a separate listing: an organ concert in the basilica. It names an organist, a Hungarian bass singer and a flautist, and its programme runs from Mozart's Fantasie in F minor and Stradella's Pietà, Signore through Albinoni, Liszt and Verdi's Prayer of Fiesco to the Polonaise, Minuet and Badinerie from Bach's Suite in B minor and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The GetYourGuide ticket sells its seats by row range: the first row as VIP, then rows 2 to 6, 7 to 16 and 17 to 26 as the three other classes. Choose it when the instrument is the reason for going, since the programme is built around the organ and the two soloists.

Read next: The Angster organ

Choosing between the programmes

Pick by the music rather than the price, because the programmes overlap. Bach, Albinoni, Handel and the Ave Marias recur across them, and a programme you like on one date may not run on another. The pieces that set them apart are few, so a short rule works, and it is worth applying before you open the calendar, because it narrows the dates you need to compare. Treat the calendar as the final word: it shows which programme runs on each date, and your confirmation repeats it once you have booked. If two dates offer the same programme, choose the one that suits your trip. The two tickets and the third card use the same cancellation terms.

• One great work in full: the Requiem programme.
• The instrument itself: the organ programme on the main ticket, or the separate organ concert.
• Familiar slow pieces in a mixed bill: Ave Maria Air Alleluja II.

Which seat class

The basilica tells organisers that its seats are not numbered one by one and that the nave is divided into marked sectors. A seating class is therefore a zone of the nave, and on the organ ticket the zones are given as row ranges, with the first class at the front and the others further back. The sound belongs to the whole room, so the view is what you are paying to improve. One guest wrote that the seats are not set up so that you can fully see the musicians. If seeing the players matters, take the nearer class. If the sound is the point, a cheaper class is a reasonable choice. Within a class, ask the organiser how guests are seated.

One attribution to know

Several programmes list Albinoni's Adagio. Remo Giazotto published the piece in 1958 as built on a fragment of a trio sonata by Tomaso Albinoni, which he said he obtained from the Saxon State Library in Dresden. No record of that fragment has been found, and some scholars treat the work as a hoax. Giazotto's authorship of everything except the bass line is not disputed. The Adagio remains a well-made slow movement for strings and organ, and the programme simply gives it the name that tradition has attached to it. It is a good example of why the label on a piece and its history can differ, and a fair reason to read about the music before the evening.

A baroque church instead

The third card is a different building: a one-hour concert in St. Anna Church, billed as Vivaldi's Four Seasons and more and played by the Budapest Classic Orchestra with a violin soloist and a soprano. Its ticket describes a baroque church a few steps from Váci Street and a printed programme that names The Four Seasons (Spring and Summer), Pachelbel's Canon, the Lacrymosa from Mozart's Requiem, Bach's Air and Handel's Ombra mai fu. It is marked wheelchair accessible and allows late entry between compositions. Choose it if a baroque interior and a shorter, lighter programme appeal more than a neo-Renaissance basilica, and check the calendar entry for your date before you book.

What guests say

Guests praise the setting, the acoustics and the musicians, and several name the organ, violin, trumpet and two opera singers. Two points recur. First, this is a small ensemble: one guest wrote that it was a string ensemble with a soprano soloist and not a full orchestra, but of high quality and with a diverse repertoire. Second, some guests found that the concert ended earlier than advertised and asked for clearer timing. Both are worth knowing before you book. Read the line-up on your date's page, and avoid a tight dinner reservation or a late transfer straight afterwards. One guest of the organ concert says it fulfilled a long-held wish to hear Bach's Toccata and Fugue in a large European church, which shows what that programme delivers.

Cancelling and paying later

A concert booked through GetYourGuide can be cancelled without charge until 24 hours before it starts, and the fare can be paid later. Those terms belong to the GetYourGuide booking, not to a purchase from an organiser. Once the last 24 hours begin, a refund should not be expected. Keep the confirmation until after the concert, because it carries the meeting point and the arrival instructions, which matter most for the one date that is held in another church. If your plans change, cancel and rebook rather than turning up on the wrong evening. Check the cancellation line on your date's page before you rely on it.

Who this isn't for

A full orchestra and a large choir are not what this evening offers: guests describe small ensembles. If you need a heated room, note that the basilica calls its church hall unheated. If you want the building itself, a visit to the church is a separate ticket, and the basilica says religious services take priority over visitors. If you want to pick the exact pieces, remember that the programme changes by date. And if the evening must run to a tight timetable, remember that some guests report variable timing. None of these is a reason to avoid the evening, only a reason to choose with open eyes.