Viewers of the stream on Facebook and Origo.hu witnessed a certain kind of premiere from 8:00 p.m. on 18 November 2020. The Hungarian State Opera had long been preparing the new production of The Master and Margarita, the opera-musical by Levente Gyöngyösi; the highlights were presented in a concert version in the OperaWednesday series.
Satan appears in Moscow in the company of a resolute talking cat and other strange characters. Some people disappear under strange circumstances, witches fly through the air, and we are transported back to Biblical times from one minute to the next. The surreal story of Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita comes to life in a special musical format in Levente Gyöngyösi’s opera-musical. “I had wanted to write a piece where the stylistic elements of contemporary and pop music synthesise for quite a while now. Something that is easy to understand, well laid out, and modern: an experiment to do away with boundaries.”
Soloists of the concert performance: Péter Balczó, Orsolya Sáfár, Péter Kálmán, Ildikó Szakács, Zoltán Gavodi, Tivadar Kiss, Donát Varga, András Hábetler, István Kovács, András Kiss, Éva Várhelyi.
Staged by: Katalin Lázár
Narrator: Dániel Mona
Featuring on the piano: Balázs Kálvin
The performance can be viewed HERE.
Photo by Valter Berecz