Applicants from nearly 70 countries across six continents, more than 1,400 people in total, applied to the audition of the Hungarian State Opera’s ballet company held on 1 February 2026, representing an increase of more than 26% compared to the previous two years. A graduating student of the Hungarian Dance University also received a contract offer for the 2026/27 season.
Graduating students from the world’s most prestigious ballet schools once again applied to the Hungarian National Ballet this year, including the Royal Ballet School in London, the Paris Opera Ballet School, the Ballet School of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Saint Petersburg, the Dutch National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam, and the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. Of the 1,411 applicants, 134 were given the opporunity to present their skills in person at last Sunday’s audition, where all Hungarian graduating applicants from the Hungarian Dance University were also given the opportunity to audition.
At the three-round audition, following registration and warm-up, applicants first took part in a classical ballet class, then presented their classical variations, and finally learned excerpts from two contemporary choreographies under the guidance of ballet masters. The applicants were evaluated by the company’s ballet masters including Cristina Balaban, Stanislav Beliaevskii, Anastasia Dunets, James Forbat, István Kohári, Gergely Leblanc, Albert Mirzoyan, Dace Radina, and György Szirb, led by ballet director Tamás Solymosi. The audition was also observed by Eszter Kazinczy, ballet master and head of the women’s graduating classical ballet class at the Hungarian Dance University.
“The high number of applicants and where they come from clearly show the standing of the Hungarian National Ballet today. The standard of the company is very high, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get in, and the waiting list is long. In addition to a high level of technical skill, we place special emphasis at auditions on character development, artistic versatility, quick learning ability, and artistic compatibility with the company,” said Tamás Solymosi. The ballet director also announced that among the graduating students of the Hungarian National Ballet Institute, which operates as the OPERA’s ballet school, Lilla Emese Varga will join the Hungarian National Ballet from the next season. After numerous prestigious competition results, she achieved first place at the Budapest Ballet Grand Prix in 2025.
Applicants who wish to accept the contract offered to them following the audition may join the work of Hungary’s only world-class classical ballet company from July 2026.
Photo by Attila Nagy
