The Masquerade of 10 January 2021 featured the joint aria recital by mezzo-soprano Viktória Mester and baritone Zoltán Nagy. The programme was streamed from the Sándor Hevesi Stage of the Eiffel Art Studios from 8:00 p.m. on Facebook and Origo.hu.
Mezzo-soprano Viktória Mester began her singing studies at the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music, Békéscsaba. In 1996, she was admitted to Mária Toldy's musical studio, a year later she joined the Choir of the Hungarian Radio, and later the National Choir. In the latter company she worked with such outstanding masters as Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro, Zoltán Kocsis and Georg Solti. In 1998, she was admitted to the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, where she studied with Éva Andor and Balázs Kovalik. She was a permanent guest singer of the Miskolc National Theatre for four seasons, where she sang, among others, the title role of Carmen, and Nicklausse in Les contes d'Hoffmann. She made her debut at the Hungarian State Opera in October 2006 as Maddalena in Rigoletto. She is a regular guest at the Opera, where her repertoire ranges from operas by Mozart to contemporary pieces. In 2014, she was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit.
Baritone Zoltán Nagy took the opera stage for the first time as Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia in his native city of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca). Between 2008 and 2010, he served as the youngest member in the history of the Wiener Staatsoper, where he received the opportunity to sing with the world's leading artists. A recurring guest in the theatres of such cities as Hamburg, Leipzig, Bilbao, Nice, Athens, Trieste and Palermo, Nagy has a repertoire that encompasses primarily Italian and French operas, as well as Mozartian and Wagnerian roles. He made his Erkel Theatre debut in 2013, in the title role of Háry János, and he has since partnered with Andrea Rost as Silvia in Pagliacci there, in addition to singing the roles of Schaunard in La bohème 2.0 and Guglielmo in both Jiřì Menzel's and Miklós Szinetár's productions of Così fan tutte.
Artistic directors of the performance: Erika Tóth and Albert Mányik
Hosted by: Szilveszter Ókovács
Pianist: Balázs Kálvin
Programme:
Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri – Isabella's aria from Act 1 ("Cruda sorte") – Viktória Mester
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro – The Count's aria from Act 3 ("Hai gia vinta la causa… Vedrò mentr’io sospiro") – Zoltán Nagy
Händel: Agrippina – Agrippina's aria from Act 2 ("Pensieri, voi mi tormentate") – Viktória Mester
Bellini: I puritani – Riccardo's aria from Act 1 ("Ah! Per sempre io ti perdei") – Zoltán Nagy
Massenet: Werther – Charlotte's aria from Act 3 ("Werther! Qui m’aurait dit") – Viktória Mester
Csajkovszkij: The Seasons – January: At the Fireside – Balázs Kálvin
Csajkovszkij: The Queen of Spades – Tomsky's aria from Act 3 ("Yesli b milyye devitsy") – Zoltán Nagy
Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri – Isabella and Taddeo's duet ("Ai capricci della sorte") – Viktória Mester and Zoltán Nagy
The performance can be viewed HERE.
Photo by János Kummer