Return Victorious!

With the Kossuth Prize, the Hungarian state recognizes its artists at the highest level, usually at the end of their careers, to crown their achievements. In 2024, the Hungarian State Opera invited those soloists who were still active to come together for this special evening and welcome the new Kossuth Prize recipient Gábor Bretz, who presented a longer programme. Then, after the intermission, the previous recipients also delighted the audience and each other with their favourite (lyrical or tragic) arias and (certainly hilarious) stories. At the gala, interspersed with conversations and reminiscences, alongside Gábor Bretz, Ilona Tokody, Kolos Kováts, Gyöngyi Lukács, Dénes Gulyás, Ildikó Komlósi, Eszter Sümegi, Mihály Kálmándy, and Klára Kolonits also took the stage. With this initiative, which has become a tradition, we aim to celebrate our newly awarded Kossuth Prize-winning opera singers every year. (Or, if in a given year the distinction is not awarded to any opera singer, we take delight in gathering yet further proof that our previous laureates truly deserved to receive the Kossuth Prize.)