30 premieres and 477 full-scale performances took place in the two theatres of the Hungarian State Opera. Until the end of December an audience of nearly 500,000 visited the institute, which is a 9% growth compared to the 2015 number, which was also record-breaking. Among the 44 international guest stars the greatest names in the international music scene appeared on stage at the Opera House and the Erkel Theatre. The numbers of subscriptions sold surpassed 32,000, which is an 8% growth.
Plácido Domingo, Edita Gruberová, Bryn Terfel, Iréne Theorin, Erwin Schrott, Charles Castronovo – only a few of the leading international stars who appeared in Budapest in 2016 along with Hungarian artists. Several performances were conducted by internationally renowned Christian Badea, Arthur Fagen, Oliver von Dohnányi, Pinchas Steinberg and Stefan Soltész.
2016 saw the second half of the fourth thematic season, the Shakespeare Season. Its crowning event, the Shakespeare Gala took place in February, where Plácido Domingo made his debut on stage of the Opera House. At the end of the season, the so far greatest series, the Shakespeare400+ Festival was organised. The commemoration of the 1956 Revolution was joined by the Opera with 13 different programmes: world premieres, concerts, a musical and exhibitions.
The Hungarian National Ballet had five premieres –contemporary and classical pieces alike: The Sleeping Beauty by Petipa, Don Quijote by Messerer, Sarabande and Falling Angels by Kylián. The first summer series in the history of the Opera was also a huge success: Elton John's Billy Elliot – the Musical attracted and audience of 80,000.
Watch our video summary.
Photography by Zsófia Pályi
