Nearly four thousand people attended the three performances of La bohème, sixteen hundred the Beethoven concert, while a total of ten thousand tickets were sold for the six ballet performances of Swan Lake. Thus, the Hungarian State Opera’s season-opening guest appearance at the Dubai Opera, held from 18 to 28 September 2025, was accompanied by resounding success, surpassing that of two years earlier.
In the heart of the nearly three-million-strong metropolis of the United Arab Emirates, next to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, Puccini’s La bohème was performed in a double cast: István Horváth, Kammersänger of the season, and Adorján Pataki (Rodolfo), Orsolya Sáfár and Gabriella Létay Kiss (Mimì), as well as Mária Celeng and Opera Studio member Gabriella Rea Fenyvesi (Musetta), with Azat Malik, András Palerdi, Csaba Szegedi, and, in two smaller roles, Kossuth Prize laureate Dénes Gulyás. Due to an illness, the performances were accompanied by unexpected excitement, as Nobert Antóni saved two evenings with his brilliant stand-in as Schaunard. Both the performances of La bohème and the subsequent Beethoven concert were conducted by István Dénes, Liszt Prize-winning eternalmember of the Hungarian State Opera.
Next, he Hungarian National Ballet, the ballet company of the Hungarian State Opera once again achieved enormous success with Swan Lake. The leading roles were performed by Tatyjana Melnyik, Maria Yakovleva, étoile of the current season, and Maria Beck (Odette / Odile); Dmitry Timofeev, Louis Scrivener, and Boris Zhurilov (Siegfried); as well as Takaaki Okajima, Mikalai Radziush, and Vlagyiszlav Melnyik (Rothbart). In addition to the Hungarian National Ballet, students of the Hungarian National Ballet Institute, the OPERA's ballet school, also participated in the production. The Hungarian State Opera Orchestra was conducted by Thomas Herzog, artistic director of Theater Basel.
Altogether, 283 artists and employees took part in the ten performances realised at the expense of the inviting party. In the coming weeks, five containers will transport the sets, props, costumes, and instruments back home from the Gulf country. From this year’s Dubai series, La bohème will be staged at the Hungarian State Opera between 13 and 27 December 2025, while Swan Lake will be performed between 25 April and 19 May 2026. The Hungarian National Ballet’s next appearance will be on 12 October 2025, with Johan Inger’s Walking Mad, Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, and Hans van Manen’s 5 Tangos in the programme titled Bittersweet Comedies. Later, the ensemble directed by Tamás Solymosi, will bring back to the repertoire László Seregi’s highly acclaimed dance production Romeo and Juliet from 25 October.
Photo by Dubai Opera
