We left at the interval...

Hungarian National Opera, Budapest, Saturday April 18 2015 Conductor: Graeme Jenkins. Production: Attila Vidnyánszky. Sets and costumes: Olexander Bizolub. Buryja: Éva Balatoni. Laca Klemen: János Bándi. Steva Burya: Atilla Kiss B. Kostelnicka: Gyöngyi Lukács. Jenufa: Szilvia Rálik. Mill Foreman: Gábor Bretz. Mayor: László Szvétek. Mayor's wife: Katalin Gémes. Karolka: Krisztina Simon. Neighbour: Éva Várhelyi. Barena: Erika Markovics. Jano: Eszter Zavaros.   Photo: Attila Nagy In Budapest on the whole singers don't hold back, but despite the commitment of the four principals this performance of Jenufa was not a great success for various reasons, some of them probably to do with it being a first night. For a start, the two tenors had a problem with pacing. Vocally they were sharply contrasted: Attila Kiss B.'s voice is clear and brassy; János Bándi's is darker and, in timbre but not volume, softer. Both threw themselves almost alarmingly into the first act, and thi...

Hungarian State Opera, Friday November 16, 2012 Conductor: Domonkos Héja. Production: László Vámos, staged by Sándor Palcsó. Sets: Attila Csikós. Costumes: Nelly Vágó. Otello: Marius Vlad. Desdemona: Andrea Rost. Iago: Anatolij Fokanov. Emilia: Éva Pánczél. Cassio: Zoltán Nyári. Rodrigo: Tivadar Kiss. Montano: Sándor Egri. Lodovico: Tamás Szüle. Un AraldoZoltán Somogyi. Orchestra and Chorus of the Hungarian State Opera. If or when you get Otello in your season you may, I think, be forgiven for wondering what to expect. But the last time I was in Budapest I was pleased to find a wholly Eastern European cast offering “generous, professional, committed singing of what’s now an old school” (quote from my write-up of Rosenkavalier ) not to mention the excellent orchestra, chorus and the “third best acoustics in Europe,” as one punctilious, locally-written guide book put it. So I had high hopes for Otello this time round, and they were fulfilled. Once again, the cast was admirably...

Hungarian State Opera, Budapest, Sunday April 4 2010. Conductor: Dénes István. Production: Andrejs Zagars. Sets: Julia Müer. Costumes: Kristine Pasternaka. Lighting: Kevin Wyn-Jones. Feldmarschallin: Eszter Sümegi. Baron Ochs: Lars Woldt. Octavian: Andrea Meláth. Faninal: Péter Kálmán. Sophie: Rita Rácz. Leitmetzerin: Mária Temesi. Valzacchi: Zsolt Derecskei. Annina: Jolán Sánta. Polizeikommissar: Sándor Egri. Haushofmeister bei der Feldmarschallin: László Beöthy-Kiss. Haushofmeister bei Faninal Sándor Kecskés. Notar: Kázmér Sárkány. Wirt: Péter Kiss. Sänger: Attila Fekete. One of the nice things about Budapest last weekend was the kind of restaurant that’s a rarity now in Paris: well-run, professional establishments upholding a long tradition of dishing up generous, well-prepared fare at reasonable prices purely for their patrons’ pleasure, seemingly glad to have your custom and praise; rather than slaves to fashion, the dreaded "creativity" and "innovation" c...