Ádám Fischer will conduct the orchestra and choir. The soloists will be Rita Rácz and Erika Gál.
The season opener will also mark the start of the half-year ?City of Erkel, Mahler and Liszt? programme organised by the Hungarofest Klassz Music Office. Before the concert, a statue of Mahler by the sculptor János Krasznai will be inaugurated. This year is the 150th anniversary of the Austrian composer?s birth and next year will be the hundredth anniversary of this death.
Mahler was director of the Budapest opera house between 1888 and 1891.
Although Mahler never wrote any operas, he still remains the most famous of the opera house?s directors, said Fischer, recounting how before the final performance of last season, the baritone Thomas Hampson sought out the room where Mahler stayed when he was in Budapest.
Among the highlights of the season will be a performance of Mahler?s Das Lied von der Erde on January 25, Fischer said. The soloists will be Michael König and Angelika Kirchschlager, singing in Budapest for the first time.
Another important performance will be of the rarely staged Mozart opera Ascanio in Alba, Fischer said.
A planned premiere of Luigi Nono?s Intolleranza was to have been the focus of the season and a highlight of Hungary?s European Union presidency, but the performance was cancelled earlier after director Christoph Schlingensief fell gravely ill, Fischer said. The famous director died on Saturday.
Fischer said he was looking forward to the new season and to continuing to work with director Balázs Kovalik.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
