Love

In October 2016 the Opera was holding a gala world premiere of the work that won its competition for an adaptation of the 1971 Hungarian film classic Love, by Tibor Déry, Károly Makk and Péter Bacsó. “The reason why Love is one of the most beautiful and truthful Hungarian films is because, in a great arc, it whistles out a catcall at the “truths” of history, and instead focuses on the much more powerful truth of people, objects and memories,” wrote Gergely Bikácsy of the award-winning film. Using striking techniques, the young composer Judit Varga creates her own musical world, which while sharply defined by the influence of Déry's novellas and Makk's film, also offers a new generation's take on the history of the 1950s. Although the story centres on the Old Lady, living in a dream-world of infirmity, and Luca, who refuses to acknowledge the existence of the dictatorship, their words and actions are nevertheless always haunted by the ghostly presence of János, their son and husband.

Hungarian-language discussion programme