Bluebeard's Castle / Mario and the magician

Bluebeard's Castle Opera in one act in Hungarian Bartók's sole opera provides a glimpse, by way of seven symbolic doors, into the secrets of the human soul. The enigmatic work follows the evolution of the relationship between two people and the different stages of getting to know each other and growing apart refracted allegorically through symbols with many meanings. All the while, it suggests that it is not the drama of a man and a woman unfolding before the viewer's eyes, but rather a man's drama and a woman's drama. As director Péter Galambos put it at the time of the 2013 premiere: “The deeper they probe into understanding their own demons, the more uncertain they become. Their curiosity, however, is still greater than their fear. Confronting our demons – no matter how painful it may be – leads to an understanding of ourselves.”

Mario and the Magician

Opera in one act, in Hungarian, with Hungarian and English surtitles

"You do what you like. Or is it possible you have ever not done what you liked – or even, maybe, what you didn't like?" The atmosphere is an unpleasant one in this memory of Torre de Venere. The audience members at an Italian resort town fall, against their will, under the influence of a remarkable magician – with the exception of one person.

"Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil," said Thomas Mann, whose highly influential novel Mario and the Magician János Vajda use as the basis for his opera of the same name, one of the most successful and affecting works in modern Hungarian opera history. The work will be shown at the Opera House in a production directed by Péter Galambos, with Krisztián Cser in the principal role.