As the ensemble to perform the most opera and ballet performances in the world, the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra widens its concert repertoire year after year. During the reconstruction of the Opera House in Budapest, the oldest symphony orchestra in Hungary provides exciting performances at the Erkel Theatre, the second venue of the Hungarian State Opera.
The Hungarian State Opera Orchestra is the oldest theatre orchestra in Hungary. Due to the vast selection of performances offered by the Opera, it is the most employed Hungarian symphony orchestra. Its roots reach back as far as 1838, when Ferenc Erkel, the father of the Hungarian national opera as a genre organised an opera orchestra for the Hungarian Theatre of Pest. The orchestra moved into their present home, the Opera House after its inauguration in 1884 and was presided over by notable principal music directors including Gustav Mahler.
In the course of its history, the Hungarian and world premieres of numerous operas and ballet pieces featured the orchestra. Most of Bartók’s stage works and all of those by Kodály premiered at the Opera House as well as Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. The orchestra was headed by renowned Hungarian composers Kodály, Dohnányi, Petrovics and Péter Eötvös and international opera composers like Mascagni, Respighi and Richard Strauss. Apart from excellent generations of Hungarian opera singers, the orchestra accompanied the greatest stars. Mario del Monaco, Nicolai Gedda, Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Cecilia Bartoli, Erwin Schrott, Jonas Kaufmann, Plácido Domingo, Bryn Terfel, René Pape, Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov are only a few to mention as it would almost be impossible to list all the famous artists who have appeared at the performances and concerts of the Opera alongside the orchestra with the longest history in Hungary.
The Hungarian State Opera Orchestra 2019/2020 concert schedule at the Erkel Theatre – highlights
30 September 2019 (Opera182)
Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (excerpts)
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219
Rybnikov: Smyphony No. 6 (“Tenebrosa”)
Featuring Haruka Nagao (violin) / Conductor: Gergely Kesselyák
28 October 2019
Pierre de la Rue: Requiem
Arvo Pärt: Symphony No. 3
Honegger: Symphony No. 3 (“Liturgical”)
Featuring the Hungarian State Opera Chorus / Conductor: Balázs Kocsár
2 November 2019
Verdi: Requiem
Featuring Gabriella Létay Kiss, Bernadett Fodor, Gergely Boncsér, András Palerdi
Conductor: Petr Popelka
1 January 2020 (New Year’s concert)
Zoltán Kovács: Three dances… – In memoriam Ferenc Erkel
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 12
Featuring Klára Kolonits, Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz, István Horváth, Kolos Kováts
Conductor: György Vashegyi
20 January 2020
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Classical Symphony”), Op. 25
Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major (Hob. I/105)
Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 74
Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
Conductor: Stefan Soltész
10 February 2020
Bizet – Shchedrin: Carmen Suite
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Conductor: Mladen Tarbuk
16 March 2020 (Ybl206)
Mahler: Blumine
Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
Dohnányi: Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 9
Conductor: Kocsár Balázs
15 May 2020 (20th Century Christian Music Concert)
Britten: Cantata Misericordium
Britten: The Prodigal Son (excerpts)
Debussy: Danse sacrée et Danse profane
Debussy: L’enfant prodigue
Featuring Klára Kolonits, Szabolcs Brickner / Conductor: Michel Tabachnik
Photo by László Emmer