Bánk bán

Opera in two parts, three acts, in Hungarian, with Hungarian and English surtitles

In 1844, following on the heels of his triumph in the competition to set Ferenc Kölcsey's Himnusz – today the national anthem of Hungary – to music, Ferenc Erkel set about looking at the possibilities for using József Katona's much-attacked drama Bánk bán as the subject for an opera. History made the period of composition a lengthy one: first came the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848/49, and censorship by the dictatorship that followed meant that the audience would have to wait until 9 March 1861 before the work could be performed in its entirety at Pest's National Theatre. The unique aspect of the Opera's new production of Bánk bán – a work that maintains its popularity as a result of, or perhaps in spite of, well-executed additions and revisions – is now being staged in the baritone version originally created for the persona and voice of Imre Palló, an idea supported by Zoltán Kodály himself at the time. Attila Vidnyánszky, managing director of the National Theatre and former chief stage director at the Hungarian State Opera, will be returning to the Erkel Theatre to mount his first new production for the institution in ten years.