The Bartók + Verismo International Opera Festival will be held on June 15 ? 25. On the programme will be 13 operas, three ballets, 22 concerts and 16 other performances. Despite the programme being three days shorter than in 2005, this year?s festival will include 57 events, ten more than last year.
Already famous as a venue for the works of Bartók, the festival will pay a special tribute to the great Hungarian composer this year, on the 125th anniversary of his birth. Among the Bartók works on the programme are ?Bluebeard?s Castle? to be performed at the Miskolc Natoinal Theatre with András Palerdi and Andrea Meláth in a co-production of the German National Theatre of Weimar and the Opera Festival of Miskolc. The nearby caves of Aggtelek will be the venue for another performance of the opera with Gábor Brecz and Judit Német, accompanied by the Danubia Symphonic Orchestra and animations by Géza M. Tóth. A film version of the opera, directed by Sándor Silló, will also be shown during the festival, and the Gergely Csiky Theatre of Kaposvár will perform the prose version of the opera based on Menyhért Lengyel?s libretto.
Bartók?s ?The Miraculous Mandarin? will be performed by the Szeged Contemporary Ballet, with choreography by Tamás Juronics, and a production entitled ?Bartók?s Journeys? will present folk songs collected by the composer together with dances and the compositions they inspired.
Verismo-style operas will also feature at the festival. The Verismo style, popular at the end of the 19th century, encompasses operas by Alfano, Cilea, Giordano, Leoncavallo, Mascagni and Puccini. Works by all of these composers will feature in Miskolc, performed by some of the best Hungarian, Russian, Serbian, Czech, Roman and Slovak opera singers.
Last year?s festival attracted 90,000 people, and even more visitors are expected this year.
For more information, please visit http://www.operafesztival.hu/index.php?m=1&y=6&l=2
