Szilveszter Ókovács DLA
General director
Opera singer, television executive, general director of the Hungarian State Opera. After completing his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt College of Music in Győr, where he qualified as a teacher of vocal soloists, Szilveszter Ókovács went on to study opera singing at Budapest's Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. Following stints teaching singing and opera history, he took up his first positions with the Opera: first as manager of the Erkel Theatre, and later as its director of communications. He then spent a few short years away from the Opera to fill key positions at Hír TV (as senior fellow) and Duna Television (as chief executive officer) between 2005 and 2011, but even during that period wasn't completely removed from it. Since 2011, the Hungarian State Opera has again been at the centre of his life: after first being named government commissioner and later acting general director, he was in 2012 appointed to the position on a permanent basis, where he continues to labour on behalf of Hungarian opera performance. In 2022 he earned the Middle Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit.