This year’s Armel Opera Festival will be held between July 2-6, in Müpa, Budapest and in MuTh Theatre, Vienna.
On the 2nd of July, on the opening day of the Festival Daníel Bjarnason’s opera Brothers will be performed in the production of the Icelandic Opera, in the stage-direction of the internationally acclaimed Kasper Holten, the father of the so-called “Northern-style” opera. The world premiere of Brothers was in 2017, in Aarhaus, Denmark.
Singing forms an integral part of Icelandic culture, where opera is very popular. The Icelandic Opera was founded in 1980 by a group of young singers and artists. Since 2011 the company has been working in Harpa Music Hall. The Icelandic Opera stages high-quality, ambitious and divers opera productions.
Brothers
On the 3rd of July the premiere of Annelies Van Parys’s contemporary work The diary of one who disappeared will be held, also in the Festival Theatre of Müpa. The Belgian production is directed by Ivo van Hove, the founder of Tonnelgroep Amsterdam, the creator of several international opera and theatre performances and the winner of several theatrical awards. Currently, he is one of the leading experimental directors in Europe.
Written by Leoš Janáček (1854–1928), this is a twenty-two-part song cycle about a a village boy who falls in love. This fascinating story inspired the writer, Annelies Van Parys to create additional works and extend the original piece with her own compositions. The miniature deals with topics such as passion, exclusion and identity, in an intimate atmopshere.
The diary of one who disappeared ((c) Laura Makabresku)
There will be two Hungarian productions held in the MuTh Theatre in Vienna.
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Máté Szabó, will be performed on the 4th of July. It is a co-production of the National Theatre of Győr and Co-Opera, Hungary.
’Mozart’s genius lies in the fact that he skillfully combines the elements of opera buffa and opera seria. He is always ready to use comical gags with irresistible humour, while also readily conveying the tragedy of situations. This duality is expressed best in the figure of the Countess, whose character is almost entirely dramatic. Mozart expresses life itself in his music and his plays; the inescapable duality of tragedy and comedy. This production proposes to show nothing less.’ (Máté Szabó, stage-director)
On the 5th of July the premiere of Csaba Horváth – Marcell Dargay’s opera Away, no matter where will be held in Vienna, in the stage-direction of Csaba Horváth.
The music is based on Monteverdi’s piece The duel between Tancred and Clorinda and the writings of Sándor Tar.
The piece is a co-operation between the famous Hungarian composer Marcell Dargay, the Hungarian director-coreographer, Csaba Horváth (leader of Forte Company), the artists of Forte Company, two opera singers and the Metrum Ensemble with Lajos Rozmán, musical director.
Csaba Horváth’s first opera direction can be seen at MuTh theatre in Vienna, exactly at the 30th anniversary of the change of the political system in Hungary. In Autumn, the production will also be performed in Budapest at Trafó House of Contemporary Arts.
The closing performance of this year’s festival will be held in Müpa. Directed by Róbert Alföldi, Mozart’s Don Giovanni is staged as a co-operation between the Ecuadorian-Hungarian Music Foundation (MusArtEH) and the Armel Opera Festival.
The popular opera is one of the pet projects of the director. Known for his knack for reinterpreting the classics by shifting the emphasis as well as for his masterful skills in creating and resolving dramatic tension, the audience will surely be treated to an outstanding rendition of Mozart’s masterpiece.
A further interesting feature of the performance is that Róbert Alföldi will direct this opera in Ecuador, in the Teatro Casa de la Cultura.
The characters of Donna Anna, Leporello and Don Ottavio will be impersonated by the winners of the Armel Opera Competition.
Don Giovanni is one of the most well-known pieces of Mozart in the world. The first scene starts with a duel ending in a murder. However, the murderer, who is a handsome young knight, does not respect men or law, goes on living carelessly the life of heart-breakers. Nevertheless killing a man cannot remain unpunished. The audience can feel this restless atmosphere through the whole opera, with sometimes comic situations, until the appropriate punishment.
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More information on the performances
The announcement of results will be in the Glass Hall of Müpa on the 7th of July.
Armel Opera Festival launches a free shuttle service from the parking lot of Novotel Budapest City (1123 Budapest, Alkotás u. 63-67.) to MuTh Theatre, Vienna at 2 p.m. on the 4th and 5th of July. The bus leaves for Budapest immediately after the performance. After registration you can get on the ARMEL bus with a theatre ticket valid for the given day. Please register at: Ez az e-mail-cím a szpemrobotok elleni védelem alatt áll. Megtekintéséhez engedélyeznie kell a JavaScript használatát.
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About the Festival
Armel Opera Festival is a unique operatic event that has presented opera rarities and, in particular, contemporary works since 2008. The international jury of the Armel Opera Competition assesses the singers’ vocal qualities their acting skills. The singers selected in two rounds of the competition are offered the main roles in one of the festival productions, and in the final stage of the challenge, they can prove their talent in this particular Armel Opera Festival presentation to win the Award for Best Performer. All Armel Opera Festival shows are broadcast live on the French-German Arte Concert channel annually, the recorded performances can be accessed by opera-loving audiences on the channel’s website for another six months.
More information: www.armelfestival.org
