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© Bódis Krisztián
9th Iván Nagy International Ballet Gala
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 June 2025 | ||||||
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The World of Ballet Remembers a Hungarian Legend
Performance duration: 2 hours 30 minutes, with 1 intermission.
2014 saw the sudden passing of the international ballet artist and ballet director Iván Nagy. After his retirement, he had returned to serve his country by working as head artistic consultant for the Hungarian State Opera. He used his wide-ranging knowledge of the profession to help the work of the Hungarian National Ballet; his departure left a gaping hole in the members of the corps de ballet. Since then, we have organised a ballet night in his honour every year, where soloists from the most important corps de ballet from all across the world – Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Bolshoi, Páris Opera, Het Nationale Ballet – and the performers of the OPERA’s corps de ballet pay tribute to Iván Nagy’s greatness in the profession and as a person. On the same day, we will award an artist of the Hungarian National Ballet with the Solymosi Award, which is given to the best dancer from the December run of The Nutcracker or an employee playing an important role behind the scenes.
Featuring the Hungarian National Ballet, the students of the Hungarian National Ballet Institute, and the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra.
Program and cast
Conductor: Kálmán Szennai
Editor, director: Tamás Solymosi
Hostess of the evening: Melitta Gyüdi
Hungarian State Opera
STANDING ROOM TICKETS - INFORMATION IN CASE OF A FULL HOUSE!
If all the seats are sold out for the selected time, but you still want to see the production on that day, 84 of the extremely affordable standing seats will be sold at the theatre, 2 hours before the start of the performance, with which you can visit the gallery on the 3rd floor. Tickets can be purchased at the ticket office of the Budapest Opera House. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the stage can only be seen to a limited extent from the standing places and the side seats, but at the same time, following the performance is also supported by television broadcasting on the spot.
The Opera House is not only one of the most significant art relic of Budapest, but the symbol of the Hungarian operatic tradition of more than three hundred years as well. The long-awaited moment in Hungarian opera life arrived on September 27, 1884, when, in the presence of Franz Joseph I. the Opera House was opened amid great pomp and ceremony. The event, however, erupted into a small scandal - the curious crowd broke into the entrance hall and overran the security guards in order to catch a glimpse of the splendid Palace on Sugar út. Designed by Mikós Ybl, a major figure of 19th century Hungarian architecture, the construction lived up to the highest expectations. Ornamentation included paintings and sculptures by leading figures of Hungarian art of the time: Károly Lotz, Bertalan Székely, Mór Than and Alajos Stróbl. The great bronze chandelier from Mainz and the stage machinery moda by the Asphaleia company of Vienna were both considered as cutting-edge technology at that time.
Many important artists were guests here including Gustav Mahler, the composer who was director in Budapest from 1887 to 1891. He founded the international prestige of the institution, performing Wagner operas as well as Magcagni’ Cavalleria Rusticana. The Hungarian State Opera has always maintained high professional standards, inviting international stars like Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Monserrat Caballé, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, José Cura, Thomas Hampson and Juan Diego Flórez to perform on its stage. The Hungarian cast include outstanding and renowed artists like Éva Marton, Ilona Tokody, Andrea Rost, Dénes Gulyás, Attila Fekete and Gábor Bretz.
© Bódis Krisztián
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