Eliconie

In the first month of the New Year, the Hungarian State Opera offers a selection of premieres and concerts at the Opera House and the Erkel Theatre featuring international guests, soloists and conductors.

Aribert Reimann: Lear – premiere: 30 January, 2016 (Opera House)
Contemporary composer Aribert Reimann’s reworking of the tale of King Lear, perhaps Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy, is an opera of extraordinary tension, provocative to the end and with a unique musical style. Reimann has always been attracted to serious and challenging philosophical literary works that struggle with existential problems. The story of the father who divides his realm, and then suffers the cruelty of his daughters and the persecutions of fate is being brought to the stage by Ferenc Anger, based on the legendary production by director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle.
Conductor: Stefan Soltész. Cast includes Tómas Tómasson, Matthew Shaw, Frank van Aken, Éva Bátori, Szilvia Rálik, Eszter Sümegi.
Further performances: 2, 11, 13 February, 29, 31 May, 2016

White, Black – Opposites in Attraction (one-act dance pieces) – premiere: 29 January, 2016 (Erkel Theatre)
The two premieres of the evening are Sarabande and Falling Angels, two pieces from Jiří Kylián’s five-ballet series, Black and White. In Sarabande, six male dancers portray the essence of male existence and various aspects of manhood to the sounds of Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2. Falling Angels contrasts with the preceding piece by having eight female dancers depict the feminine psyche and different facets of female existence to the first movement of Steve Reich’s Drummings.
The act to close the evening is one of the Hungarian National Ballet’s successful repertoire pieces: Études. Harald Lander’s marvellous choreography presents the everyday work of the ballet dancer: the beauty of classical ballet, the joy and thrill of Dance – from rehearsals to performance.
Conductor: Imre Kollár
Further performances: 30, 31 January, 5, 6, 7 February, 2016

Budapest Philharmonic Concert (Steinberg70) – performance: 18 January, 2016 (Opera House)
The 18 January concert featuring soloist Alexander Gavrylyuk (piano) is to celebrate the birthday of Pinchas Steinberg, chairmanconductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra since 2014.
With a history stretching back more than a century and a half, the Budapest Philharmonic is Hungary’s oldest functioning orchestra. Its first concert on 20 November, 1853 was conducted by Ferenc Erkel. The orchestra can boast the world premieres of more than a hundred works, including such curiosities as the original 1889 premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. As in previous years, the aim of the ensemble in the 2015/16 season is nothing less than to retain its rank among the top concert orchestras in Hungary, capitalising on the special and unique musical skills gained from performing opera on a daily basis.

Programme: Glinka: Overture from Ruslan and Lyudmila
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Miklósa25 – concert: 21 January, 2016 (Erkel Theatre)

January 2016 will mark a quarter-century since a young lass from Kiskunhalas named Erika Miklósa, then barely out of her teens, first stepped onto the stage of Erkel Theatre in the role of Papagena. Now, 25 years later, this celebrated coloratura soprano who now graces the greatest opera houses is not only focused on her own profession as an opera singer, but also on helping young talents get started on their careers, and also happily gets involved in various social events that promote such causes as equal opportunity for all and a healthy lifestyle.

At the gala night at the Erkel Theatre audiences and guest artists from Hungary and abroad will have the chance to celebrate the artist’s anniversary together.

Conductor: István Silló

Hungarian State Opera
Andrássy út 22
H-1061 Budapest
www.opera.hu