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Following the success of the Christmas premiere of The Magic Flute, the piece will be performed by its third cast on January 16.
A popular opera from last season, The Barber of Seville, will be performed again this season. András Békés's staging from 1986, freshened up by Balázs Kovalik, will be staged on January 15.
The opera house's most popular divas will all appear on stage: Eszter Sümegi will sing the title role in Tosca on January 12, 16 and 23, and Ilona Tokody and Bernadett Wiedermann will sing the female leads in Don Carlos on January 19, 22 and 24.
The management of the 125-year-old opera kept two important considerations in mind when planning the season: to once again present the most important 20th century Hungarian operas and to pay tribute to the choreographer László Seregi, who turned 80 in December 2009. Both of these criteria are met by Emil Petrovics's opera, C'est la guerre, from 1962, which was reworked and directed by Gábor Miklós Kerényi in 2001, and the Seregi opus Variations on a Children's Song based on the music of Ernő Dohnányi. The performance will be conducted by Gergely Vajda.
Gabriella Kiss Létay will appear as the female lead in Tchaikovsky's Onegin on January 28. The title role of the opera will be sung by Pavol Remenár.
The National Theatre of Bratislava will show a guest performance of Madam Butterfly directed by Peter Konwitschny on February 9.
For the first time in the history of Opera Balls, the Opera House will be not only be the venue but also the host of the ball season's first event. The star guest of the evening will be José Cura, partnering up with Ildikó Komlósi.
On the day after the Opera Ball, continuing a tradition started last year, nearly one thousand disabled and disadvantaged children will be invited to the opera, where they will see Kovalik's extraordinary production of Humperdinck's opera Hansel und Gretel.
Haydn's The Soul of the Philosopher, or Orpheus and Euridice will be once again be performed on February 20. The opera, directed by Sándor Zsótér, premiered at the 2009 Budapest Spring Festival. This time the title roles will be sung by Andrea Rost and the young tenor Szabolcs Brickner.
Source: fidelio.hu
Photo: Eszter Gordon
