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Billy Elliot – The Musical returns to Hungary

The all-star cast of Lee Hall and Elton John’s Billy Elliot – The Musical has returned to the Erkel Theatre. The most prominent Hungarian permiere of the summer of 2016 featured many popular stage actors who will reprise their roles this summer accompanied by a new generation of children.

Fans of musicals and dance will not have to miss their favourite genre in the summer break. In July and August 2017, popular Hungarian stage actors, Judit Ladinek, Nikolett Gallusz, Éva Auksz, András Stohl, Sándor Tóth, Kristóf Németh, Boglárka Simon, Renáta Krassy, Eszter Balla, Eszter Csákányi, Ilona Bencze and Ildikó Hűvösvölgyi are joined by newly-cast children actors at the Erkel Theatre to dazzle audiences.

It’s 1984. In England’s mining towns, life is in upheaval: it is the time of the strikes. Eleven-year-old Billy Elliot lives in one of these towns. His father and older brother have joined the picket line to fight for a better living. His mother is dead. Following in the family tradition, the boy attends boxing lessons, but this violent sport doesn’t suit him much. One day he happens upon the girls at their ballet class and is smitten by the dancing.

Will a young boy’s artistic talent be able to bring the family and the community together? Will Billy succeed in making his dreams come true?

This musical adaptation which has delighted audiences around the world is a collaboration between Sir Elton John and the winning team behind the original 2000 feature film. We are presenting it in a non-replica production directed by Tamás Szirtes, and with choreography by Ákos Tihanyi. We believe that music and dance are for everyone, and that includes ballet.

This production of Billy Elliot – The Musical was made possible by special permission from Music Theatre International (MTI, 421 West 54th Street, New York, New York 10019 – Tel.: (1) 212 541 4684, www.mtishows.com) for the use of the material specially issued by it.

The children soloists featured in the Opera’s production have been trained and prepared in partnership with the Madách Dance School and the Hungarian Dance Academy.

Photos by Zsófia Pályi

Hungarian State Opera closing for one and a half year

The building will be under renewal until 2019, so it will not be open for the audience. The stage mechanism, the auditorium, the orchestra pit, the workshops and some other rooms will be renovated, according to PestBuda.hu.

The last season of the Hungarian State Opera House was a record with its more than 600,000 visitors, as chairman Szilveszter Ókovács claimed on Sunday in Budapest. The institution celebrated with organising a gala and an awarding ceremony. The director also told that thirty Hungarian pieces were performed in this season, which is a novelty in the history of the Opera House. Sixteen Hungarian premieres were hosted in the building, including five world premieres and one domestic premiere.

Ókovács noted that some of the performances in the Opera House planned for the next spring may be cancelled due to the renewal of the building. According to him, the number of people purchasing season tickets still exceeds 25,000, despite the closing down of the building in Andrássy Street. Several awards were given at the Csillagóra Gala. The Chamber Singer of the Hungarian State Opera House award was received by Boldizsár László tenor singer, who performed forty times during this season, Russian baritone Anatolij Fokanoff and bass László Szvétek. The title of the Étoile of Hungarian National Ballet went to Tanykpayeva Aliya from Kazahstan, while the Chamber Artist of the Hungarian State Opera House award was received by bass stock phrase leader Alajos H Zováthi.

Preceding the gala, additional awards were given in the Székely Bertalan room on Sunday. Éva Balatoni private singer was awarded with a Mihály Székely Plaque, while Ágnes Peták harp player received a János Ferencsik Memorial Award. The Vilmos Komor Plaque, which bears the name of an excellent conductor, went to Balázs Rumy clarinet player. Not only musicians and singers were awarded: designer Gergely Zöldy Z received a Tivadar Márk Memorial Plaque, while tutor Anikó Katona won a Gusztáv Oláh Memorial Plaque. Last but not least, prompter Gábor Lengyel received the Lajos Gela Plaque, an award that was founded for the memory of the late stage manager of Erkel Theater.

The building will go through a large scale renewal in the next one and a half years, so it might reopen in 2019 instead of the spring of 2018. Besides other renovations, the stage mechanism, the auditorium, the orchestra pit, the workshops and some other rooms will be renewed. At the same time, the construction of Eiffel Art Studios will also begin, it is just a matter of a few weeks.

Photo: www.facebook.com/Operahaz

Ce: bm

A Streetcar Named Desire – world premiere at the Erkel Theatre

 The final premiere of the 2016/17 of the Hungarian State Opera is an exciting world premiere. Tennessee Williams’ most acclaimed work, A Streetcar Named Desireis transformed into a modern dance drama on the stage of the Erkel Theatre. It is also principal ballet master Marianna Venekei’s first full-length choreography.

The project, lovingly nurtured for many years, is a collaboration between Venekei and composer-saxophonist László Dés. Using the means of modern ballet, its creators evoke the atmosphere, sights and music of the New Orleans of the 1940s, the time and setting of Tennessee Williams’s original work, in a production driven by the sheer variety of the musical and dance motifs, and the unique personalities of the characters.

The story of the fall of Blanche DuBois is a drama of family bonds, unrequited love, acceptance and physical force that never loses its relevance. “Any of us can become Blanche,” Venekei states, meaning that we can find ourselves in a hopeless situation from which it is impossible to get out. A single bad decision that seems necessary can make everything around us fall apart. A Streetcar Named Desire is a shockingly dramatic story because each character wishes to do right in their own way, but in most cases only succeed in ruining each other’s lives.

This world premiere at the Erkel Theatre promises to be a worthy closure to the 2016/17 Hungarian Season.

Choreographer: Marianna Venekei
Composer: László Dés
Set designer: Gergely Zöldy Z
Costume designer: Imelda Jeremias Bianca
Lighting designer: Balázs Csontos
Assistant choreographer: Ágnes Sárközy Holler

Cast: Cristina Balaban / Jessica Carulla Leon (Blanche),  Anna Krupp / Lea Földi (Stella), Roland Liebich / Balázs Majoros (Stanley), Levente Bajári / Mark James Biocca (Mitch) Mikalai Radziush / Iurii Kekalo (Allan)

Ballet version of the play of the same title by Tennessee Williams. It has been created with the permission of The University of the South (Copyright (c) 1947, 1953 renewed 1975, 1981 by The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee).
The permission of the copyright-holder was obtained through the intermediation of Hofra Kft. (www.hofra.hu).Premiere: 17 June 2017, 7 p.m. | Erkel Theatre

Further dates: 23, 24, 25 June 2017

Bartók DanceTriptych at the Hungarian State Opera

As part of the HungarianFest organised by the Hungarian State Opera, the new production entitled Bartók DanceTriptych promises to be a unique treat for our dance-loving viewers. Three one-act dance pieces composed by Béla Bartók are presented in one evening, each of them choreographed by a different artist. The Bartók DanceTriptych therefore will be a trio in terms of not only the number of works but of the featured dance styles as well.

On the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Bartók’s first dramatic work, composed to a libretto by Béla Balázs, a brand-new choreography of The Wooden Prince returned to the stage of the Opera on 12 May 2017, following in the tradition of Ottó Zöbisch (1917), János Cieplinsky (1935) and Gyula Harangozó, whose 1939 version already featured more modern elements. Each new interpretation attempts to take a step in the direction of modernity, to resolve or even emphasise the contradiction straining between the childlike tale and the sophisticated music. This task was undertaken by internationally recognised dancer and choreographer Pál Frenák. He staged the piece in a completely new creative work, a collaboration between the contemporary dancers from Compagnie Pal Frenak and the members of the Hungarian National Ballet.

After the anniversary performance, Frenák’s first choreography for the Hungarian National Ballet becomes part of the Bartók DanceTriptych programme, which in addition to the new The Wooden Prince, will include another new work. Bartók composed Dance Suite for the 50th anniversary (1923) of the unification of Pest, Buda and Óbuda, and it was premiered by the Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra, which then, as now, was made up of musicians from the Opera. The music was inspired by dance themes, as the title shows. Now a new choreography has been created, which follows the special features of the music and combines the power of ballet and folk dance, for a co-production of the Hungarian National Ballet and the Duna Art Ensemble – for the first time in the history of performing the ballet, as conceptualised by Harangozó Prize-winner Zsolt Juhász.

The evening will also include a revival of László Seregi’s choreography for The Miraculous Mandarin, who created his work in 1970. His intention was to stage a more modern version both in movement and visual concept. The dancers wore leather pants and jackets, the stage was lit by streetlights, and the production also included sirens. The 2017 revival remains faithful to the legendary choreographer’s vision, even the costumes have been recreated exactly as they had been first designed.

Premiere: 28 May 2017, 7 p.m. | Opera House
Further dates: 28, 31 May, 01, 04 June 2017

Photo: MTI

HungarianFest at the Hungarian State Opera: 10 May – 10 June, 2017

At the end of the Hungarian Season, over the course of four weeks, between 10 May and 10 June, 2017, two centuries of Hungarian opera will be presented in a grand series that includes works by composers as early as József Ruzitska, as recent as Judit Varga and Levente Gyöngyösi, and all major Hungarian opera composers in between, as well as several indispensable choreographic works.

Beside popular Hungarian repertoire pieces like Háry János or Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, productions that had their premieres this season such as The Spinning Room, Love and Other Demons, or the two one-act pieces of Hungarian Late Night can be seen again. The festival will see the premieres of The Magic Cupboard, a comic opera by Ferenc Farkas, as well as the two earliest examples of Hungarian opera: Béla’s Flight by József Ruzitska has survived for posterity, while József Chudy’s lost opera, Prince Pikkó has been reconstructed by György Orbán.

For the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Béla Bartók’s dance piece, The Wooden Prince, Pál Frenák has created a new choreography that can be first seen on a gala night entitled The Wooden Prince100. Later, with a new Dance Suite by Zsolt Juhász and László Seregi’s classic The Miraculous Mandarin, it can be seen as part of the production Bartók DanceTriptych.

During the HungarianFest, several excellent pieces of contemporary Hungarian opera can be heard as concert versions: The Last Waltz by Iván Madarász, Le grande macabre by György Ligeti, Blood Wedding by Sándor Szokolay, The Stork Caliph by Levente Gyöngyösi, C’est la guerre and Lysistrate by Emil Petrovics, or Spiritisti, the opera by György Selmeczi that premiered in 2014 at the Opera House.

Many performances of the festival are aimed at the younger generations. Apart from the ever popular fairy tale opera, Leander and Linseed, and the family ballet, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, a children’s opera entitled The Stubborn Princess will enchant youngsters. The OperaAdventure series for secondary school students will have its ninth installment and 200 000th viewer with our national opera, Bánk bán.

On 10 June, the closing concert of the festival will feature international bass René Pape, who is going to make his Hungarian debut on the stage of the Opera House.

For more information on the performances and ticket order CLICK HERE.

Primavera and Easter at the Hungarian State Opera

With the coming of spring, for the fifth time, the Erkel Theatre presents the panorama of premieres from Hungarian opera companies between 4 and 9 April at the Primavera ‘17 Festival. Afterwards, performances at both venues of the Hungarian State Opera are dedicated to the Easter celebrations with works by Bach, Mascagni and Wagner.

It is the obligation of the Hungarian State Opera House, by virtue of its rank and status as a national institution, to support the performance of opera around the country. It was this recognition that in 2013 gave rise to the week-long Primavera series, in which each of the companies from Hungary and abroad that are invited to participate will feature their latest pieces at the Erkel Theatre every spring. The festival begins on 4 April with Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the production of the Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Opera directed and conducted by György Selmeczi. Fans of Verdi can enjoy three new productions: La traviata (Győr National Theatre, 5 April), Il trovatore (Szeged National Theatre, 6 April) and Macbeth (Pécs National Theatre, 9 April). The Csokonai Theatre, Debrecen presents the most important Hungarian national opera, Bánk bán by Erkel on 7 April. The Miskolc National Theatre presents Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländeron 8 April in the production of acclaimed director Máté Szabó, who has also staged several successful productions for the Hungarian State Opera.

The Easter celebrations are accompanied by productions that are closely associated with the festive season. The Saint Matthew Passion is Bach’s greatest work, one which constitutes an unsurpassable pinnacle not only of Protestant church music, but in the universal history of music. In 2013, the Opera performed the Mendelssohn version – for the first time in Hungary – and in a similarly pioneering manner provided a visual dimension for the enjoyment of its audiences. The background video displayed throughout the musical work was created by Oscar nominated animated film director Géza M. Tóth, who is also repsonsible for the new Ring productions of the Opera. Bach’s masterpiece can be seen on 13 and 15 April.

Richard Wagner’s Bühnenweihfestspiel has been in the focus of the Holy Week for decades. The traditional production of Parsifal by András Mikó features the most renowned Hungarian singers: István Kovácsházi in the title role, Gábor Bretz as Gurnemanz and Judit Németh as Kundry. They are joined by guest star Pavlo Hunka in the double roles of Amfortas and Klingsor on Good Friday and Easter Monday at the Opera House.

“Easter Showdown Motivated By Jealousy!” “Clown Commits Murder On Stage!” These are two headlines that might have graced Edoardo Sonzogno’s front pages, and it is the Milanese newspaper publisher and his annual opera-writing competition we have to thank for Italy’s two most popular one-act works, Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni and Pagliacci by Leoncavallo. The production staged by Georges Delnon in 2014 returns to the repertoire on 13, 15 and 17 April at the Erkel Theatre.

Those who have seen Mascagni’s famous one-act Cavalleria rusticana will never forget the Easter Hymn. The tragic story taking place at Easter is a perfect match for Messa di Gloria, which exudes the euphoria of resurrection, but which is above all a Southern Italian mass of innocent faith. The artists of the Hungarian State Opera (including soloists Ildikó Komlósi, Judit Németh and Boldizsár László) will be preparing for the Easter Sunday event with a concert performance with a unique atmosphere. It is also of no little relevance that Mascagni himself rehearsed and conducted his opera in Budapest, and as rumour has it, its success here ignited it like a rocket on its way to becoming a worldwide sensation.

Grand operetta at the Erkel Theatre: Der Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss, Jr.

On 24 March 2017, the Hungarian State Opera presents Der Zigeunerbaron, the grand operetta by Johann Strauss, Jr. at the Erkel Theatre. Directed by accomplished Hungarian director, Miklós Szinetár, the new production promises a real spectacle.

On one of his visits to Budapest, Johann Strauss, Jr. formed an acquaintanceship with the Hungarian writer Mór Jókai. The fruit of their association turned out to be one of the “Waltz King’s” finest operettas: Der Zigeunerbaron, or The Gypsy Baron, which was based on Jókai’s novella, itself inspired by a true story, and which came into being with active collaboration on the part of the author. The libretto was written by Budapest-born Ignaz Schnitzer, who later published the most comprehensive German-language edition of the poems of national poet Sándor Petőfi. It is no coincidence, then, that if we translate the original German verses of Die Zigeunerbaron into Hungarian, hints of Petőfi’s works appear in many places.

A year and a half later, on Strauss’s 60th birthday on 24 October 1885, the Theater an der Wien performed the world premiere of the grand operetta; Emperor Francis Joseph watched the entire work, even though he usually left theatre performances during the first intermission (for example at the inauguration night of the Opera House in Pest in 1884). 11 years after the great success of Die Fledermaus, the composer conquered Vienna again, and then the whole world: Der Zigeunerbaron turned out to be a huge success. One of the work’s virtues is that its music lends itself to the opera stage, with the sounds of the Hungarian csárdás, Gypsy music, the Viennese waltz and weightier melodies all rubbing along together marvellously.

And what is a bald pig dealer doing in an operetta? And who is the heir to the pasha of Temesvár? And how will the son of a country gentleman become the baron of the Gypsies? All will be made clear in this production by Miklós Szinetár at the Erkel Theatre, the venue of many successful performances of this work in the past decades.

Conductor: Domonkos Héja
Director: Miklós Szinetár
Choreographer: Gábor Mihályi
Set designer: Balázs Horesnyi
Costume designer: Márta Pilinyi

Cast: Atilla Kiss B. / Boldizsár László (Barinkay), Ildikó Szakács / Eszter Zavaros (Saffi), Andrea Ulbrich / Bernadett Wiedemann (Czipra), Géza Gábor / László Szvétek (Zsupán)

Premiere: 24 March 2017, 6 p.m. | Erkel Theatre
Further dates: 25, 26, 30, 31 March & 1, 2 April 2017

The Hungarian State Opera announces its 2017/2018 season

The Hungarian State Opera’s 2017/18 season will get off to an unusual start, since the Opera House will not be opening its doors in September. The modernisation means that the season will start at the Erkel Theatre, and while there will be fewer programmes than usual, their diversity will match that of previous years: In this season inspired by Wagner’s Ring cycle, there will be 28 opera and ballet premieres, along with countless repertoire pieces, musicals, grand operettas, concerts, concert-format productions and family and children’s programmes.

The Ring–theme is not just about the Ring cycle itself. It also presents the precursors and impact of Wagner’s genius. Featured will be dramatic works – some staged, some concert-format – by Bach, Gluck, Weber, Beethoven, Schubert, Spontini, Lortzing, Marschner, Humperdinck, Wolf, Korngold and Richard Strauss: a sort of spiritual Valhalla of pan-Germanic culture.

As the audience has already come to expect, we will be premiering several works that have never been performed at the Opera, or anywhere in Hungary for that matter. These include the new experience of Hindemith’s two works – Sancta Susanna and The Long Christmas Dinner – to be featured in the GermanLateNight programme. Rossini’s comic opera L’italiana in Algeri, Bach’s Secular Cantatas and Offenbach’s Die Rheinnixen have likewise never been shown here.

In the spirit of updating the repertoire, some works that haven’t been seen for a long time will also be freshened up. These include Gershwin’s masterpiece Porgy and Bess, in a new production by András Almási-Tóth, and Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, being staged by the young Italian director Fabio Ceresa. Children will get to enjoy the new Hänsel und Gretel being produced by another young international director: Rafael R. Villalobos. Reaching its conclusion with the completion of Götterdämmerung, the final work of Wagner’s gigantic tetralogy, will be Géza M. Tóth’s labour of four years. This also allows us to present the audience with the experience of the entire Ring cycle in the autumn of 2018.

For the complete list of premieres in the 2017/18 season CLICK HERE.

For the complete list of repertoire productions in the 2017/18 season CLICK HERE.

At any given time while the Opera House is being renovated, a portion of the company will be on the road. The Hungarian National Ballet will at last get to captivate the Müpa Budapest audience, among others, with its contemporary dance works. The Béla Bartók National Concert Hall will also be hosting opera, with concert-format performances of three large-scale works: Otello, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Turandot.

We would never be able to journey so far – in such numbers, with this much luggage – except when the Opera House is closed. With the Carpathian Homeland Opera Tour, we will be bringing our national opera Hunyadi László and Ronald Hynd’s ballet The Merry Widow, premiered at the Erkel Theatre a few years back, all over the lands of historical Hungary. We’ll also put on a stylish Salome in Jordan and pack an entire arsenal of ballets and operas for the enjoyment of the Estonian audience. Two classics – Lucia di Lammermoor and Die Fledermaus – have been invited to visit Japan, accompanied by Edit Gruberová. Our orchestra will also be giving symphonic concerts in different Japanese cities, in addition to accompanying Anna Netrebko at Berlin’s Waldbühne and heading off on a trip around the world with Plácido Domingo’s touring Aida.

We organise many of the season’s events around one anniversary or another. We will pay tribute to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in autumn 2017 with concert-format performances of Verdi’s Requiem and Stiffelio, as well as a new production of a work that has not played in Hungary for a long time: Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, staged by János Szikora. On 24 May 2018, both the company and the audience will once again take possession of the Opera House with a four-day Bluebeard100 Mini-Festival, with a different production of Bartók’s one-act presented each day (including the original Miklós Bánffy version and a new one by Kasper Holten), each paired with a different work by Péter Eötvös, Iván Madarász or Gergely Vajda.

For more information on special programmes, international stars appearing at the Opera, and the restoration and modernisation of the Budapest Opera House please consult the season preview brochure below.

The Ring goes on: Siegfried – premiere at the Hungarian State Opera

On 19 March 2017, the Hungarian State Opera gets one step closer to having a new complete Ring production. Once again, Siegfried is directed by Balázs Béla Prize-winning and Oscar nominee animated film director Géza M. Tóth.

“For the sake of that most beautiful of my life-dreams „Young Siegfried,” I shall have to finish the „Nibelungen” pieces after all; the „Valkyrie” has taken so much out of me that I must indulge in this pleasure; I have got as far as the second half of the last act… As I have never in life felt the real bliss of love, I must erect a monument to the most beautiful of all my dreams, in which, from beginning to end, that love shall be thoroughly satiated,” wrote Wagner to Ferenc Liszt in 1854.

The work was premiered in Bayreuth in August of 1876, when the entire tetralogy was first performed. 140 years later, the next instalment of Géza M. Tóth’s new production of the Ring cycle will again be on the Opera’s programme to tell the tale of the hero who knows no fear.

For the new production of Siegfried, leading Hungarian singers will be joined by international guest artists: Jürgen Sacher, Egils Silins, and Marcus Jupiter returning as Alberich.

Conductor: Péter Halász
Director, visual concept: Géza M. Tóth
Choreographer: Marianna Venekei
Set designer: Gergely Zöldy Z
Costume designer: Ibolya Bárdosi
Projected scenery: KEDD Animation Studio

Cast: István Kovácsházi (Siegfried), Jürgen Sacher (Mime), Egils Silins (The Wanderer), Marcus Jupither (Alberich), István Rácz (Fafner), Erika Gál (Erda), Eszter Sümegi (Brünnhilde), Zita Szemere (Forest bird)

Premiere: 19 March 2017, 5 p.m. | Opera House
Further dates: 23, 26 March & 2 April 2017

March anniversaries and jubilees at the Hungarian State Opera

In the first half of March 2017, the Opera celebrates three outstanding Hungarian artists whose careers surpassed the borders of their homeland and contributed so much to the international reputation of Hungarian opera, ballet and classical music.

6 March, 2017 | Erkel Theatre
Hungarian State Opera Orchestra concert: Kodály50+

The academic qualifications of Zoltán Kodály and the fact that he worked as a composer writing music only reveals a small fraction about this man who possessed wisdom on a biblical scale from a very young age. In addition to his knowledge of literature and languages, his academic devotion to folk music, his professorship at the Academy of Music and his desire to familiarise the entire Hungarian nation and especially the young with the world of music.

Regardless of which regime was in power, he protected the downtrodden and supported the talented, and when it was necessary, he stood up against tyranny, trusting in the protective shield of the international renown he had gained through several decades of exhibiting human greatness. On the 50th anniversary of his death, the morning will begin at the Opera House where Kodály and his family survived the siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944/45. We will be remembering at the same place where his Missa brevis was premiered, conducted by himself: the ground floor cloakroom.

In the evening, the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra celebrates the life and art of Kodály with a symphonic concert conducted by internationally renowned Ion Marin including Dances of Galánta, Two Songs, and Te Deum at the Erkel Theatre.

11 March, 2017 | Opera House
Pártay75 with Anna Karenina

The Hungarian Season brings a significant birthday for our internationally-renowned ballet dancer and choreographer, which will be a true celebration of Hungarian classical ballet. Lilla Pártay’s career as a ballerina and the appealing choreographic work that grew out of it always remained faithful to classical foundations, gave Hungarian dance of the past few decades its second – alongside László Seregi – great creative artist. After her active career as an internationally successful prima ballerina and the winner of several competitions, she created more than three dozen choreographies, and her full-length productions were also performed at the Opera.

On her 75th birthday, we will be relaunching a run of her first two-act ballet, Anna Karenina, and before the first performance, the Hungarian National Ballet will be saluting the master choreographer, while the Opera celebrates with a brand-new illustrated publication about Lilla Pártay’s career.

13 March, 2017 | Opera House
Tokody40 gala concert

In the last third of the 20th century, there was a Hungarian lyric soprano whose talent, diligence and enchanting personality enabled to win acclaim all over the world. Ilona Tokody was a paragon in every single Italian role, a great figure of sophisticated and artistic singing. On the 40th anniversary of the beginning of her career, she will be compiling the programme of the night and selecting the participants, and of course she herself will be appearing before her fans with former colleagues and special guests. The Opera will also be celebrating this outstanding artist who has always remained faithful to it with a photo album published for this occasion.

Featuring the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus (chorus master: Kálmán Strausz)
Conductor: Janos Acs
Director: András Aczél

2017 to be year of major cultural investments, says Hungarian government

Budapest, January 15 (MTI) – The year ahead will be one of major cultural investments in Hungary, with the government set to spend more than 125 billion forints (EUR 406.2m) on cultural projects compared with the 52 billion forints spent last year, the human resources minister said on Sunday.

Major construction projects set to be carried out this year include the construction of a museum quarter in the City Park, the reconstruction of the garden of the National Museum, the refurbishment of the Eiffel Hall, an old railway building in Budapest’s 10th district to serve as a base and storage facility for the soon-to-be renovated State Opera House, and the refurbishment of Budapest’s Museum of Applied Arts, Zoltán Balog told public television.

Regarding Hungary’s memorial year marking the 500th anniversary of Reformation in Europe, Balog said Hungarians were more keen on preserving the cultural values that “made this continent great” than western European nations. “The cultural axis in Europe has shifted,” he said, adding that the migration crisis had also demonstrated that Hungary was more committed to preserving Europe’s cultural-historical heritage rooted in Christianity than other countries. The minister said the Reformation had resulted in a new form of communication in Europe and helped the continent break away from a language “which had prohibited calling things by their name”.

Balog noted that last year UNESCO added the Kodaly method of music education to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. He said this was a major success for Hungary, adding, at the same time, that while the method is well-known across the world, Hungary has a lot of ground to make up in its music education.

He said the government had supported about one thousand events paying tribute to the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising last year, adding that the commemoration events had never reached as many people as they did during the 60th anniversary of the revolution.

Photo: MTI/Human Resorces Ministry of Hungary

7 Hungarian artists among the world’s most sought-after musicians in 2016, the State Opera is the busiest

According to the Bachtrack British classical event finder website’s statistics, seven Hungarian musicians were among the artists who performed the most in 2016. Moreover, the Hungarian State Opera became the world’s busiest opera house with 305 performances, overtaking even the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, prae.hu reports.

Bachtrack, the largest classical event finder has published their annual musical statistics on the most sought-after musicians and singers, the busiest opera and ballet companies, the most popular composers, and the changing musical trends of 2016, based on more than 32 thousand classical events held last year.

Based on the data, the world’s most sought-after cellist in 2016 was 31-year-old István Várdai, who overtook the French Gautier Capucon, the Norwegian Truls Mork, and the Argentinean Sol Gabetta.

István Várdai. Photo: classicalconcerts.hu

On the list of the busiest pianists of the year, Dénes Várjon came 3rd and Grammy Award-winning Hungarian-born British pianist András Schiff came 7th. Among the violinists, Kristóf Baráti became the 6th most sought-after musician of the year.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/hans-zimmer-feel-home-hungary/” type=”big” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Hans Zimmer: “I feel at home in Hungary”[/button]

Composers who celebrated an anniversary last year got ahead on the list. The Hungarian György Kurtág, who celebrated his 90th birthday in 2016, became the 4th most sought-after contemporary composer of the year.

Kurtag_Gyorgy_(2)
György Kurtág. Photo: mta.hu

The Hungarian State Opera became the busiest opera house in 2016 with the highest number of performances in the world. Two members of the Opera also featured in the statistics: Krisztián Cser came 7th on the list of the busiest basses, and András Kiss was 5th among the top 10 baritones, a list which was led by none other than Plácido Domingo.

Based on the amount of ballet performances given in 2016, the Hungarian National Ballet became the 6th busiest dance company in the world, overtaking the likes of the Bolshoi Ballet and the English National Ballet.

Cover photo: www.facebook.com/Operahaz

Copy editor: bm

Newest opera by the Hungarian State Opera – Love and Other Demons

Péter Eötvös’s fifth opera was commissioned by the Glyndebourne Festival and composed to Kornél Hamvai’s multilingual libretto (constructed with elements of Yoruba, Latin and Spanish, in addition to the English) based on Gabriel García Márquez’s novella of the same title.

Love and Other Demons

Opera in two acts (2007), Budapest version (2017) – After the novel Del amor y otros demonios by Gabriel García Márquez

“This fantasy world helps me to concentrate on the music, rather than focus too much on the plot. This is my first opera about love, and also my first quasi-belcanto piece that allows the singers to show off the beauty of their voices,” said the composer.

In other words, it has all the makings for an exciting theatrical experience, including a story full of operatic elements (religious intolerance, demonic possession and forbidden love), and Eötvös himself states that this is his most melodic music, while critics have called it magical. And it’s all being staged by Silviu Purcărete, the Romanian theatre director renowned across Europe, whose productions are characterized by confident handling of the acting and powerful imagery.

Commissioned by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the BBC.

Language:

In original languages, with Hungarian and English subtitles.

Get more details HERE.

For the first time at the Hungarian State Opera: Dialogues des Carmélites

The final premiere at the Hungarian State Opera in the year 2016 is a piece that has never been performed at the Budapest Opera. Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc is put on stage by artistic director Ferenc Anger with musical direction by internationally renowned conductor Christian Badea.

Date

Premiere: 2 December 2016, 7 p.m. | Opera House
Further dates: 4, 6, 11, 15 December 2016

A member of the famous French “Les Six”, Francis Poulenc wrote his second opera, Dialogues des Carmélites, as a serious work, to the great surprise of the audience. Poulenc had previously been known as a farceur who composed neo-classical works with an ironic and comical tone. In the 1930s, however, the composer lost two close friends, and only faith could help him out of his deep mourning and depression. Therefore it was not surprising that when the Ricordi publishing house commissioned him to compose a new opera, he turned to a story about the strength of faith, the relationship between the state and religion, and death.

The opera was composed to Georges Bernanos’s play, which in turn was based on German writer Gertrude von Le Fort’s novella Die Letzte am Schafott (The Last One at the Scaffold). Le Fort wrote her novella in Germany in 1933, as the fascist hold on power was gaining strength. The source of her work was the true story of the martyrs of Compiegne: during the French Revolution, the terreur and the Jacobin dictatorship’s antagonism toward the Church resulted in the execution of sixteen Carmelite nuns in Paris on 17 July 1794. Their hair shorn and singing the Veni, Creator Spiritus, the sisters each took their places under the guillotine. (The dictatorship came to an end exactly ten days later, with Robespierre himself being decapitated.) At the centre of the story stands a young aristocratic girl, Blanche de la Force, who is driven by fear to flee to the convent. Through her struggles, the composer shows the trial of faith in awork whose finale is perhaps both the most fantastic and the most shocking in the operatic literature.

Conductor: Christian Badea
Director: Ferenc Anger
Set designer: Éva Szendrényi
Costume designer: Gergely Zöldy Z
Chorus director: Kálmán Strausz
Cast: Anatoliy Fokanov, Gabriella Létay Kiss, Gergely Boncsér, Lívia Budai, Zita Váradi

DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES
Opera by Francis Poulenc

Text from the drama by Georges Bernanos
Adapted with the authorisation of Emmet Lavery
From a story by Gertrude Von Le Fort
And a scenario by Rev. Bruckberger and Philippe Agostini
Publisher Casa Ricordi, Milan

Don Quixote: Hungarian National Ballet premiere at the Hungarian State Opera

The Hungarian National Ballet presents their first grand premiere of the 2016/17 season at the Hungarian State Opera. Don Quixote primarily focuses on a humorous love story taken from the novel by Cervantes: the tale of Kitri and Basil, who – despite all adversity – live happily ever after through the intervention of the title character. Michael Messerer’s version is staged in Hungary for the first time.

Marius Petipa premiered his Don Quixote at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1869. Aware of the tastes of the Moscow audience, he included a number of comical elements in the production and put an emphasis on character dances. When he created a new version for Saint Petersburg, he adapted to local requirements and returned to classical elements. In 1900, Alexander Gorsky created his own choreography for the Bolshoi, which was considerably more realistic than the previous version, since Gorsky was greatly influenced by the Moscow Artistic Theatre and Konstantin Stanislavsky’s working methods and stage directing. This impact was apparent in Gorsky’s work primarily in the individualised characters of the dancers and the costumes designed to suit their personalities.

An avid and passionate reader of chivalric romances, Don Quixote decides that for the sake of his own glory and the common good, he must set out in search of adventures as a knight-errant. He sets for himself an objective no lower than to “redress grievances, right wrongs and repair injustices”. The ballet not only evokes the knight’s most important adventures, it also recounts a humorous love story which ultimately comes to a happy ending through the intervention of the Don.

Don Quixote was the first of a number of jointly crafted ballets that resulted from the collaboration between Marius Petipa and Ludwig Minkus, which was followed by a number of ballets. Minkus’s music greatly contributed to the fact that Don Quixote has become a permanent repertoire piece on the world’s ballet stages over the past 150 years: this will be the first time Michael Messerer’s version is being performed in Hungary.

Choreographer: Alexander Gorsky, Marius Petipa, Kasyan Goleizovsky, Michael Messerer
Set designer: István Rózsa
Costume designer: Nóra Rományi
Lighting designer: Kirk Bookman
Premiere: 19 November 2016, 7 p.m. | Opera House
Further dates: 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 November 2016
For cast CLICK HERE.

When 3D animation meets opera – fantastic video

According to origo.hu, mezzo-soprano opera singer Mónika Kertész’s and video clip director Dezső Gyarmati’s fantastic video came to life from the marriage of classical music and digital solutions. The famous Dido’s Lament aria in the video is dramatized with 3D statues.

Dido’s Lament aria is from Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas opera. This is performed by Mónika Kertész with the Accord Quartet. Her beautiful voice is complemented by a unique visual world designed by the senior of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Dezső Gyarmati.

Mónika Kertész has sung as a soloist in Müpa, the Great Hall of the Academy of Music and even in the Budapest Music Centre. Two years ago she performed in the National Theatre of Szeged’s Cinderella, while she spent the last season with the Hungarian Radio’s Symphonic Band. The singer told origo.hu some background information about the fantastic video.

How did it all start?

It’s been a dream of mine to create something like this for a long time. My main goal was to bring classical music closer to young people and to those who are not familiar with the world of operas. I thought that modern cinematics and classical music could be a good pairing. I wanted to achieve this in a way that both genres enhanced each other. I wanted a small movie which builds on the storyline instead of the aria. At first I thought about having actors in the video but due to the deadline and the financial limits, animation seemed to be the best choice.

monika-kertesz

How did the creating process go?

We talked a lot from the beginning, to find the best execution. For instance, it was Dezső’s idea to visualise the characters as statues. The final result is basically the paraphrase of a statue. The video goes around in a statue hall. Everything else that is moving symbolises the feelings of the two main characters, Dido and Aeneas. The ill-wisher witches and doubt is symbolised by an interestingly rippling globe. These feelings lead to the suicide of the main character.

How come you chose this aria?

I made a list of arias I would be glad to sing and then we chose this one together. We talked about everything with Dezső, but naturally, I didn’t chop in the technical details. We chose the aria together because we both wanted to be inspired by the music. I definitely wanted to choose a dramatic song but we also wanted a song with which we can tell the story of the whole opera. This is why Dido and Aeneas was a great choice.

Furthermore, it’s a love story, which is always a hot topic…

Yes, Dezső was very attracted by the harrowing story. What’s good about love stories is that they are ageless, always relevant and easily adapted into the modern world. There’s a very strong moment in this opera, the suicide scene, and I wanted to find its symbolism regarding our lives. This is the intention to change and to quit the situation, when feeling cornered. It’s not about not wanting to live anymore, it’s about not wanting to live in a certain way. So we don’t have to end our lives, only the hardships. For me this symbolises the opportunity of changing direction, which makes way for our self-fulfillment.

Have you ever sung this aria on stage?

I haven’t sung the whole role, only the aria, which I adore. This might seem like a very easy aria at first, but it has a very deep meaning. You have to keep the simplicity it suggests, while finding the balance between the profound feelings of every repeated word or sentence and the anticipated resignation.

Henry Purcell – Dido & Aeneas from Le Troger Studio on Vimeo.

Photo: www.facebook.com/MonikaKertesz

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The Hungarian State Opera’s Choir chosen as the best in the world

Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu writes that the popular online classical music site, Bachtrack, nominated the Hungarian State Opera Choir in the Best Choir competition for their Turandot performance in January. And we won hands down as our our choir scooped 73% of the votes!

Bachtrack’s Jenny Camilleri wrote: “The chorus is, in fact, the motor behind the production’s visually fluidity. Informed by Japanese kabuki theatre, Mr Kovalik has them constantly moving in slick choreography, and while singing superbly to boot.”

Bachtrack chose the six best performances of the 2015-2016 season, out of which the readers picked their favourite. The first category was Best Conductor won by Simon Rattle for Tristan and Isolde in Baden-Baden.

Photo: www.facebook.com/Operaház

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Budapest is the city of music – Mini concerts still avaible

The Budapest Festival and Tourism Center organises again the free outdoor concert series with the title “Budapest, the City of Music” at historic locations of the capital city, budapest.info said.

The project was a huge success last year, thousands of visitors could enjoy the surprise concerts in different districts of Budapest.

The first concerts of the program series await the audience on May 27, at ten locations of Budapest, and the program ends with performances scheduled for August 14. Overall there are going be 520 mini – concerts.

During the “Budapest, the City of Music” program series, numerous artists perform chamber music concerts – written especially for the occasion and evoking different beautiful historical locations – including masterpieces of the history of music, such as those of Ferenc Erkel, Ferenc Liszt, Brahms, Rossini, Mozart, or Händel.

All the performing artists are members of excellent orchestras of Budapest (such as, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, the Danube Symphony Orchestra, the Hungarian Radio Symphonic Orchestra, the Concerto Budapest), who regularly play chamber music together.

15-20-minute mini live concerts await the audience for free at the outdoor venues, who can enjoy the outdoor concerts on performance days, that is, on the three days of the weekend – on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at subsequent hours.

At the concert venues, event bulletin boards displaying the complete program help those interested.g masterpieces of the history of music, such as those of Ferenc Erkel, Ferenc Liszt, Brahms, Rossini, Mozart, or Händel.

Get more information HERE and HERE.