At a pre-performance press conference on Monday, Vajda said his fourth opera, which is based on the Hungarian writer Mihály Csokonai Vitéz's play Widow Karnyóné and the Two Featherbrains, was his best work so far as it tells a more rounded story. He added that Szabolcs Várady's libretto had been a great inspiration.
The libretto contains excerpts from other works by Csokonai in addition to Widow Karnyóné as well as fragments from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, all artfully selected by Várady.
Conductor Géza Török said supertitles, in Hungarian, would be required because of Várady's insistence on remaining true to Csokonai's archaic language, but also because of the fast pace of the libretto.
Director Tamás Ascher called Csokonai's "the Hungarian King Lear". While the play is particularly difficult to adapt to the stage, the opera version poses an even greater challenge because of the broad range of emotions which need to be presented at once, he said.
Vajda's earlier operas are Barabbas (1977), Mario and the Magician (1988) and Leonce and Lena (1999).
Source: www.fidelio.hu
