Simándy was a uniquely gifted performer best known for playing the title role in Ferenc Erkel?s Bánk Bán. A permanent member of the Hungarian State Opera company, he grew up in a housing estate near the Kistarcsa iron works, which later became the infamous Kistarcsa detention centre and is now home to a parking lot and a doctor?s surgery. It is here the Kistarcsa Cultural Society will inaugurate the statue to mark the 90th anniversary of Simándy?s birth, said association chairman Ferenc Kereszti.
Sculptor Frigyes Janzer, a winner of the Munkácsy Prize, one of Hungary?s highest honours for artists, was commissioned to make the life-size bronze figure at a cost of HUF 17 million, all of which is to be come from donations and fundraisers. So far, HUF 4 million has been raised.
The 2.2-metre-high statue is the first life-size likeness of Simándy. A portrait of the singer hangs in the State Opera, and a copy of the portrait is displayed in the village of Balatongyörök, on the shores of Lake Balaton, where Simándy had a vacation home and a vineyard. There is also a statue of Simándy in the village of Lakitelek in central Hungary, Kereszti said.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
