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Hungarian National Ballet's La Bayadère revitalizes tradition with a new reconstruction of its forgotten final act. 

Hungarian State Opera's cut-down, dramatically inert Gioconda fails to ignite the stage in Budapest, despite a solid musical foundation. 

Martin Rajna's energetic conducting and Gabriella Balga's glorious Elisabetta are the bright spots in this flashy but empty house premiere of Donizetti's classic.

Hungarian National Ballet strike a delightful balance between lighthearted comedy and technical assurance in Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow.

In its tenth year and going strong, the biennial Éva Marton International Singing Competition fields an even level of talent in an entertaining finale. 

Attila Mókus's dramatic baritone was scornful at one moment, tender, distressed, vengeful, or broken in mourning at others, vocal signposts in Rigoletto’s descent into the hell of his own making.

András Almási-Toth production of the original version of Mussorgsky's historical epic underwhelms in Budapest. 

Hungarian State Opera revives their mostly period production of Strauss' Arabella with star turns by sopranos Polina Pasztircsák and Laura Topolánszky.

Andrea Brassói-Jőrös shines in the title role of János Szikora's new staging of Dvořák's fairy tale opera. 

Three iconic Bartók dance scores are newly-interpreted at the Hungarian National Ballet. 

Peter Eötvös' 13th opera – the first in his native Hungarian – premieres at the Eiffel Art Studios in Budapest. 

Hungarian State Opera presents Idomeneo for the first time in almost 50 years in a musically superb, but controversial pandemic-informed dystopian setting.

Cast and orchestra excel in a sensitive linking of Gluck’s music and drama in Róbert Alföldi's simple, direct production at the Hungarian State Opera.

Balázs Kovalik’s interpretation of Elektra is revived in Budapest, impressing until the B-movie cliché finale. 

Calixto Bieito takes on Prokofiev's Tolstoy epic – and wins in the opera's Hungarian premiere. 

In András Almási-Toth's engaging new production, magnificent orchestral and choral performances let Wagner's music do the talking.

Balázs Kovalik’s opulent staging of Boito's Faustian opera threatens to overshadow the singers, but it makes for an exciting spectacle.

MacMillan's ballet returns to the Hungarian National Ballet in time for the Opera House's grand reopening.

Szilveszter Ókovács' new production matches the opulent venue in all its eye-candy, with dazzling costumes, dark sets large crowds, and rapid scenic changes made possible by a newly installed mechanical stage. 

Zita Szemere is a wonderfully ebullient Marie, but the new production at the Hungarian State Opera merits a mixed report card.

Considered Hungary's national opera, Ferenc Erkel's Bánk bán rarely travels beyond its borders, but is given a rousing performance by the Hungarian State Opera. 

Monteverdi’s last opera, recomposed by Máté Bella for a modern orchestra and a jazz combo, is an over-the-top, glitzy romp with plenty of casual sex and even more casual violence.

The Hungarian State Opera presents a new modern production of Don Carlo by a director who depicts the historical cruelty as very much present in our world today.

The Master and Margarita is a spectacular extravaganza indeed, streamed from Hungarian State Opera's Eiffel Art Studios.

A simple, noble and dramatic escape from the present day as the company dances Michael Messerer’s updated (slightly shortened) version of the Vainonen classic.

A ballet to be enjoyed for its visual spectacle, strong and purposeful choreography and a pacy momentum that builds into a rousing finale.

The Hungarian State Opera's revival of The Magic Flute lacks a little magic. 

The music, a combination of Italian-sounding melodies, German instrumentation and Hugarian dotted rhythms, was remarkably captivating.

This concert, with a running time of about two hours, was a lovely dip in the Rhine without the usual four-to-five hour Wagnerian full immersion.

The score of Goldmark's opera is filled with lovely orchestral surprises, in addition to stunning arias, but is often filled with an abundance of slow tempos.

The third installment of Géza M. Tóth's staging of the Ring, this Siegfried is visually striking, but it's only a strong cast, and above all Egils Silins' Wanderer, that makes it worth attending.

With a convoluted production and uneven cast, Tamás Pál in the pit and Klára Kolonits as Erzsébet Szilágyi prove to be the highlights of the performance of this Erkel classic.

This double cast, nine-day revival of Vadim Milkov's staging of Pique Dame offers a relatively straight reading of Tchaikovsky's opera about the obsessive Pushkin-based character Herman. Embracing the opera's choral and dance passages, spectacle and pageantry are paramount; the drama's surreal and more nuanced dimensions could have been better profiled.

The Hungarian State Opera offered up a belated Hungarian première by one of its native sons, Péter Eötvös – his 2007 opera Love and Other Demons.

Klára Kolonits's marvellous Lucia is the only thing brightening the bleak performance of the Hungarian State Opera's new Lucia di Lammermoor.

Quality singing impresses in Puccini's opera at the Hungarian State Opera, despite a dusty staging.

Opening the weekend that marked the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution, The Mine (A Bánya), the first of Rautavaara's nine operas, dramatizes events from those turbulent times. 

Polish opera director Michał Znaniecki created a new version of Zoltán Kodály’s 1927 The Spinning Room, a short one-act which is basically a collection of 21 Hungarian folksongs that Kodály had selected from the Székely region.

Although with a promising concept, the Hungarian State Opera’s new production ultimately proved underdirected.