Opera noir in two parts, five acts, in English
Purcell's
The Fairy Queen
was originally a “semi-opera”, that is, a series of musical passages created for a production of Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
which did not relate an independent story, but only took on true meaning in conjunction with the prose work. Director
András Almási-Tóth
conceived the work as an opera and incorporated the music into a new story by omitting the spoken parts. This version of
A Midsummer Night's Dream
takes place in an urban woodland, with lonely characters, crime, murder and love. The figure of the Fairy Queen here is a kind of femme fatale: a woman in search of herself and her own happiness and finding neither as she flees from one relationship to the next. The visual world of the production was created by set designer
Sebastian Hannak
, costume designer
Krisztina Lisztopád
and movement director
Kristóf Widder
.
The title role is played by internationally acclaimed Emőke Baráth , her partners on stage are Péter Fried (The Poet), Gianluca Margheri (The Stranger) as well as Nóra Ducza , Zita Szemere , Zoltán Daragó , Gyula Rab and Tibor Szappanos . Featuring the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus (chorus master: Kálmán Strausz ), and the Fekete-Kovács Quintet led by Kornél Fekete-Kovács . The performance is conducted by Benjamin Bayl .
The recording was made on 23 June 2016 at the Opera House.