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

Powerful and evocative imagery, both literal and implied, lingered on beyond the drop of the curtain.

With Gergely Kesselyák on double duty as conductor and director, this revival proves musically outstanding but theatrically less than satisfying.

Singers delight in a rare concert performance of Bellini's opera.

Hungarian State Opera mount a successful première of Thomas Adès's take on Shakespeare, with the show stolen by Laure Meloy's Ariel.

Inadequate production and mixed performances characterize the Hungarian State Opera's new Trovatore.

Known for her powerful interpretations of the blockbuster Italian mezzo roles, the great Hungarian diva Ildikó Komlósi dominates the new production of Aida in Budapest.

In a reconstruction of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production for the world première of Reimann’s soul-pummelling Lear, the staging stands the test of time, but the cast and orchestra leave the biggest impression.

Rarely performed, Boito’s Mefistofele is an audacious, spectacular opera, needing an audacious, spectacular staging to do it justice. That’s exactly what it gets in Balázs Kovalik’s production for Hungarian State Opera.

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.