Kovalik said he had already dealt with some of the opera?s scenes with his students at the Music Academy. The question was not whether there would be a ?happy end? but rather seeing the experiences and disappointments the characters go through in the story, he added.
In the popular opera, true love prevails in the end, in spite of the efforts of ambitious parents and a scheming marriage broker.
The opera raises questions about whether relationships can be bought with money and about fitting into the micro-community of a village, Kovalik said. While villagers in ?The Bartered Bride? are used to the stammer of the character of Vasek, they scorn him for not drinking with them, he added.
The set design by Antal takes advantage of disparities in scale: life-size animal figures are contrasted with the miniature home of the lead character and the village church.
An earlier cooperation of Antal and Kovalik, ?Mephistopheles?, won a Teátrum Prize.
The Russian Anna Samuil sings the lead in the Staatsoper production of ?The Bartered Bride?.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
