Marianna Venekei / Béla Bartók
THE MIRACUOLUS MANDARIN (Premiere)
Today we mostly find disturbing The Miraculous Mandarin, which is based on Menyhért Lengyel’s pantomime play full of erotica, sexuality and abuse. But at the time of its original premiere in Cologne, it was truly scandalous. Whether disturbing or scandalous, it is certainly an influential work, which travelled the world accordingly. It was played in numerous countries of Europe, America and Asia, and even in South Africa. In the 2023/24 season, this ballet is choreographed by Marianna Venekei, who explores the inner worlds of the characters and discovers the increasing depths of their personalities, combines past and present to find a way to reach a 21st-century audience while staying true to the music of Béla Bartók.
Choreographer: Marianna Venekei
Composer: Béla Bartók
Libretto: Menyhért Lengyel
Assistant choreographer: Ágnes Sárközy-Holler
Set designer: Gergely Zöldy Z
Costume designer: Mónika Szelei
Company répétiteurs: Ágnes Sárközy-Holler, Marianna Venekei
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
The mandarin: Iurii Kekalo | Mikalai Radziush | Taran Dumitru
The girl: Lea Földi | Jessica Carulla Leon | Aglaja Sawatzki
The young man: Ferenc Pethő (HDU) | Benedek Sánta (HDU)
The old rake: Maxim Kovtun | István Kohári
Three tramps: Balázs Majoros | Carlos Taravillo Mahillo | Yago Guerra | Francesco Sardella | Vince Topolánszky | Dmitry Zhukov
László Velekei / Béla Bartók
THE WOODEN PRINCE
“There is no date in the half-a-century history of our Opera House as important as the premier day of Béla Bartók’s first pantomime ballet The Wooden Prince on 12 May 1917. It was the first time that the Hungarian spirit, the genius of Vörösmarty, Petőfi and Ady’s nation was expressed in its true greatness and absolute authenticity in the music played in the Hungarian opera”, writes musicologist Aladár Tóth, who later became the director of the OPERA. The piece that has been part of the repertoire almost constantly in the 105 years passed since its original premier has been staged by several renowned choreographers. This mixture of a fairytale-like world of a forest and the realistically deep and human struggles of men and women, is brought to life in the 2022/23 season by László Velekei, ballet director of Győr Ballet.
Choreographer: László Velekei
Composer: Béla Bartók
Libretto: Béla Balázs
Dramaturg: Alexandra Csepi
Set designed within Steffen Aarfing's set of Bluebeard's Castle by: István Rózsa
Costume designer: Nóra Rományi
Lighting designer: Tamás Pillinger
Assistant to the choreographer: Levente Bajári
Company répétiteur: Attila Szakács
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Prince: Gergő Ármin Balázsi | Boris Zhurilov
Princess: Lili Felméry | Ellina Pohodnyh
Fairy Witch: Jessica Carulla Leon | Maria Yakovleva
Wooden Prince: András Rónai | Motomi Kiyota
Kristóf Várnagy / Béla Bartók
DANCE SUITE (Premiere)
It was 100 years ago that Béla Bartók's Dance Suite was premiered, along with Zoltán Kodály's Psalmus Hungaricus and Ernő Dohnányi's Festival Overture, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the unification of Buda, Pest, and Óbuda. "My Dance Suite to be performed consists of five parts (...) Each of the five dances has an original, folklike, but non-folk theme, and instead of a break between each dance I have used a small orchestral interlude. (...) the aim of the whole work was to present some idealised peasant music, I might even say some poetic peasant music alongside one another, but in such a way that each movement of the work presents certain specific musical types. The peasant music of all kinds of nationalities was used as a model: Hungarian, Oláh, Slovak, even Arabic; and here and there even a mixture of all these types', writes Bartók about his work. The Hungarian opera stage is not complete without Bartók's theatrical works, and even his other works that also function excellently as ballet music, such as Dance Suite. The production is choreographed by Kristóf Várnagy, who has worked with the Royal Swedish Ballet, the FrenÁk Company, and Cirque du Soleil.
Choreographer: Kristóf Várnagy
Assistant choreographer: Zita Horváth
Costume designer: Zita Bélavári
Lighting designer: Tamás Pillinger
Répétiteur of the Hungarian National Ballet Institute: Adrienn Rafai-Vetési
Featuring: Scrivener Louis | Bykovets Timofiy | Ortega de Pablos Alberto | Massara Luca | Lee Soobin | Kosyreva Diana | Ovcharenko Stefanida | Starostina Kristina | Palumbo Valerio | Hnedchyk Viachaslau | Kiyota Motomi | Marmus Auguste | Sharipova Elena | García Carriera Claudia | Quintao Rachel | Chekurashvili Nutsa
Featuring the students of the Hungarian National Ballet Institute
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