Having celebrated the Puccini anniversaries, with its new season the Hungarian State Opera will introduce the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress that is to take place in Budapest in 2020. The Opera announces its Christian Spirit Season as a monumental prologue to this significant event. At the Erkel Theatre and the newly opened Eiffel Art Studios, productions are to be staged that have either been inspired by biblical stories, or those that convey Christian ideas and values in more indirect ways, but also ones which debate them.
Oh, my God! – is what the astonished audience might have said seeing George Balanchine’s and Harald Lander’s innovative choreographies when they were first performed. The OMG dance show of the Hungarian National Ballet pays tribute to the work of the two choreographers, evoking the era between 1947 and 1950 with three pieces from the oeuvres of the two masters.
While the restoration of the Opera House in Budapest is still ongoing, international opera stars flock to the Erkel Theatre to enchant audiences.
As part of its season dedicated to Puccini’s Italy, the Hungarian State Opera presents La Gioconda, the most famous opera by Puccini’s master, Amilcare Ponchielli. The piece that is complex in plot and enthralling in music returns to the Erkel Theatre after a hiatus of twenty years in a new production staged by András Almási-Tóth.
Following extensive touring, the Hungarian State Opera returns to the Erkel Theatre to begin its 135th season dedicated to Puccini and his contemporaries. The first new production to honour the life and works of the Italian genius is La fanciulla del West staged by Vasily Barkhatov.
On the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard's Castle, the Hungarian State Opera stages a brand new version by Kasper Holten as well as showcases legendary productions paired with contemporary companion pieces between 24 May and 5 June, 2018.
16 premieres, 60 repertoire pieces, the inauguration of the Eiffel Arts Studios as well as the reopening of the Opera House are all featured in the 2018/19 season of the Hungarian State Opera.
Although Die Rheinnixen has never been played in Hungary, the premiere on 24 February will feature familiar tunes like the famous Barcarolle. These were incorporated later in Les contes d’Hoffmann by the composer himself, whose almost forgotten first opera makes its debut at the Erkel Theatre in a production by Ferenc Anger.
The first premier at the Hungarian State Opera might go down in opera history as a world sensation. András Almási-Tóth is to put The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess® on stage with Hungarian singers at the Erkel Theatre thus breaking the restriction of lmost forty years that only allowed all-black casts to perform the piece.
The last premiere of 2017 at the Hungarian State Opera is a fairy-tale opera performed traditionally in the festive season. The new production directed by Rafael R. Villalobos, winner of Opera Europa’s directing competition in Graz, welcomes adults and children alike.*
The classics live on with us: this two-part production from the Hungarian National Ballet features one work from Harald Lander and another by George Balanchine, with the latter piece making its first appearance in Hungary.
Over the past few years, the Hungarian State Opera has aimed to stage operas that have never or rarely been performed in Hungary. On 18 November 2017, the Budapest audience can see Rossini’s third most frequently performed opera, L’italiana in Algeri in a production directed by Máté Szabó.
On 25 October 2017, the Hungarian State Opera kicks off its tenth tour around Japan. For a whole month, audiences at 20 different venues can enjoy two full-scale productions given by the company featuring internationally acclaimed soloists Edita Gruberová, Erika Miklósa and Andrea Rost. The final part of the tour will offer orchestra concerts with appearance by pianist Ingrid Fujiko Hemming.
The Hungarian State Opera remembers 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 been played in Hungary for a long time: Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, staged by János Szikora at the Erkel Theatre.
The first ballet premiere of the 2017/18 season of the Hungarian National Ballet takes place at a special venue. Three pieces by internationally acclaimed choreographer Hans van Manen are presented on one evening as part of the Contemporary Arts Festival Budapest at the Müpa Festival 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 Desire is 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.
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.
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.
For the first time in the programme of the Hungarian State Opera, Le corsaire hits the stage of the Budapest Opera House. Internationally acclaimed choreographer Anna-Marie Holmes Has joined forces with ballet director Tamás Solymosi to create a new version for the Hungarian National Ballet.
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.