"We need this joy - and this expectation of spring," said state secretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture Márta Schneider, referring to the global financial and economic crisis.
The works of Joseph Haydn, who died 200 years ago this year, will be in the spotlight at the Budapest Spring Festival. Haydn's opera Philemon and Baucis will have its Hungarian premiere, under the direction of Balázs Kovalik, at the Railway History Park. Sándor Zsótér and Ádám Fischer will bring a production of another Haydn opera, Orpheus and Euridice, to the Hungarian State Opera. On March 31, the cellist Miklós Perényi and the Liszt Chamber Orchestra will present a Haydn evening.
Other highlights on the programme include a performance by the Nigel Kennedy Quintet, which will bring jazz, world, rock and folk music to the festival, and a concert by the famous violinist Joshua Bell with the Camerata Salzburg performing Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.
Theatre lovers will not be disappointed by a production of the Rimini Protokoll's rendering of Marx's Das Kapital by the Düsseldorf Theatre.
The guest of honour at this year's festival will be the Czech Republic. Czech arts, from works of fine art to film, will be in the spotlight.
Because of a lack of funding, the Budapest Fringe Festival will not take place this year. However, earlier Fringe performers will bring their acts to the Millenáris Park on April 3-5.
Photo: Máté Nándorfi; btf.hu
