Hungarian Christmas

Jenő Ádám, a student of Kodály’s and perhaps his greatest contemporary admirer, was also the one who structured and developed his pedagogical method: his Christmas one-act was the first work at the Opera House, which placed the pure Hungarian folk song on the same stage as the works of the great figures of classical music history. On Christmas 1931, Hungarian Christmas premiered with the theatre's greatest singers, conducted by the composer. The production of the Hungarian State Opera attempts to revive the essence of the singspiel and by joining it with the Christmas carol collection Oh, Beautiful, Mysterious Night by Miklós Kocsár to create an Advent performance that draws from the past of both Hungary and the Opera House itself, with the participation of the Children’s Chorus. The production directed by Attila Toronykőy, an expert in staging youth performances, evokes the characters of folk traditions referring to Biblical figures from the family to the angel, the shepherds, and the soldier.

The Christmas production of the Children’s Chorus has by now become an inseparable part of the OPERA’s advent programmes. The production, featuring Jenő Ádám’s work based on folk songs and folk customs associated with Christmas Eve, complemented by related works by Miklós Kocsár, is fittingly preceded by highlights from Háry János by Zoltán Kodály.