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

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. 

Show-stealing bass singing from Krisztián Cser and an immensely powerful Act 2 make a persuasive case for Verdi's neglected predecessor to Rigoletto.

Oliver von Dohnányi leads a great orchestral performance to drive Meyerbeer's grand historical epic, lit up by sparkling coloratura from Klára Kolonits.

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.

Underwhelming performances, all too tempestuous conducting and an aesthetically pleasing but puzzling production fail to thrill.

Miklós Szinetár's production for Hungarian State Opera is easy on the eye, but perhaps a little too beautiful for its subject matter.

Young bohemians give Puccini’s opera the refreshing radiance of youth. 

Budapest Operetta Theatre's hundreth-anniversary touring production of Kalman's operetta is irresistably fun. The silly plot and catchy tunes, delivered by an excellent cast and orchestra, are sure to provoke smiles and earworms.

Hungary is a landlocked country. In fact, Budapest is an awfully long way from the sea in all directions. So it’s not the first place you’d expect to come for a production of Wagner’sFlying Dutchman that is gloriously redolent of the sea, both in staging and in the orchestral performance. But that’s what we got last night at the Hungarian State Opera.