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The Hungarian State Opera's first New York tour featured an opera of forbidden love set in the Biblical Times by Karl Goldmark, and was a rare treat for the New York audience.

In a sensational Hungarian double bill of taut psychological drama at Müpa, Péter Eötvös' Senza sangue proves a thrilling partner to Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle.

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.

Hungarian critic Sandor Hevesy once declared that Bluebeard’s Castle was “far too dark”. Yet, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Miraculous Mandarin are probably the summation of his orchestral journey. And what better experience then making it to Budapest, to hear it in its birthplace?