Xpat Report: New Season At Hungarian State Opera House

Key programme dates and details follow this overview:

This season, special emphasis will be given to the Erkel jubilee, the 200th anniversary of the birth of this outstanding figure of Hungarian music history. On his birthday, 7 November, the Opera House will première a new production of his opera Bánk bán in an interpretation by renowned Italian director Césare Lievi.

Lovers of contemporary Hungarian music will be fascinated by the premières of two specialities: István Márta’s opera Amazing Cellphone World and Gyula Fekete’s Excelsior! – the former staged by János Szikora, the latter by Péter Gothár.
Italian operatic tradition will be represented by Verdi’s Macbeth, but the programme also includes Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, an adaptation of the Faust-legend, directed by Balázs Kovalik.

In addition to the popular Mozart operas in the repertoire, the coming season will feature his opera Ascanio in Alba, a pastorale, which he composed whilst still a teenager.

Lovers of Wagner can look forward to two premières: Der fliegende Holländer at the Opera House on 23 January, and Lohengrin, a joint production of the Palace of Arts and Opera Budapest at the Béla Bartók Concert Hall as part of the 2011 Wagner days.

The Hungarian National Ballet will feature two premières: La fille mal gardée, a choreography by world-renowned Sir Frederick Ashton, founder of the Royal Ballet, London, and the world première of A Streetcar Named Desire, choreographed by Marianna Venekei to László Dés’s music.

Mayfest will be a significant event of the next season. The festival, which is to be organised for the third time, will feature international stars in Verdi’s Otello and Rigoletto and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. The special guest will be the world-famous American soprano Renée Fleming, a star of the Metropolitan Opera, who will give a full-evening concert at the Hungarian State Opera House.

The season is to be opened with a Mahler concert in September, and the World Stars Ballet Gala, which continues its ten-year history, followed by an Erkel Gala on the eve of the première of Bánk bán in November.

Jazz fans will again be welcomed to the Opera House in late November for the third Jazz at the Opera. After the Opera Ball in March, the charity performance for children, Hänsel und Gretel will follow; this has become not only a tradition but a commitment.

The programme includes 86 ballet and 208 opera performances; the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra will give 14 concerts.

Premières in 2011

23 January 2011
Richard Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer
Conductor: Ádám Fischer
Director: Balázs Kovalik

18 March 2011
Fekete Gyula: Excelsior!
A joint production of the Spring Festival, the Thália Theatre and the Opera House
Conductor: Gergely Kesselyák
Director: Péter Gothár

22 March 2011
Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth
Conductor: György Gyõriványi Ráth
Director: Miklós Szinetár

29 & 30 April 2011
László Dés – Marianna Venekei: A Streetcar Named Desire
Conductors: Gergely Kesselyák and Kálmán Szennai
Choreographer: Marianna Venekei

9 June 2011
Richard Wagner: Lohengrin
Palace of Arts, Budapest Wagner Days 2011
Conductor: Ádám Fischer
Director: László Marton"

Source: Opera.hu