Hungarian State Opera closing for one and a half year

The building will be under renewal until 2019, so it will not be open for the audience. The stage mechanism, the auditorium, the orchestra pit, the workshops and some other rooms will be renovated, according to PestBuda.hu.

The last season of the Hungarian State Opera House was a record with its more than 600,000 visitors, as chairman Szilveszter Ókovács claimed on Sunday in Budapest. The institution celebrated with organising a gala and an awarding ceremony. The director also told that thirty Hungarian pieces were performed in this season, which is a novelty in the history of the Opera House. Sixteen Hungarian premieres were hosted in the building, including five world premieres and one domestic premiere.

Ókovács noted that some of the performances in the Opera House planned for the next spring may be cancelled due to the renewal of the building. According to him, the number of people purchasing season tickets still exceeds 25,000, despite the closing down of the building in Andrássy Street. Several awards were given at the Csillagóra Gala. The Chamber Singer of the Hungarian State Opera House award was received by Boldizsár László tenor singer, who performed forty times during this season, Russian baritone Anatolij Fokanoff and bass László Szvétek. The title of the Étoile of Hungarian National Ballet went to Tanykpayeva Aliya from Kazahstan, while the Chamber Artist of the Hungarian State Opera House award was received by bass stock phrase leader Alajos H Zováthi.