The orchestra with the most refined sound and the world’s most elegant conductor, but don’t expect advice on how to dress. Just music, music and more music.

Outstanding young Hungarian pianist, winner of several competitions, with the recommendation of Zoltán Kocsis and Péter Frankl

Mozart’s first opera using a libretto by Da Ponte was first performed in 1786 in the Burgtheater in Vienna. It appeared at an early date in Hungary too, where it was first performed in German in 1795 and then in a Hungarian translation in 1858. The literary source for the libretto was Beaumarchais’s comedy of the same title. The Vienna première was only a moderate success – no doubt due to the work’s “subversive” social attitude – and was taken off the programme after nine performances. In December of the same year, 1786 it was staged in Prague where it was an enormous success. From the following year it conquered many opera houses throughout Europe.
The action is formally focused around the “ius primae noctis” (the right of the first night). Count Almaviva publicly renounces the exercise of this right, but he is enchanted by the beautiful Susanna – Figaro’s betrothed. The countess is also aware of her husband’s “manoeuvres”, together with Susanna and Figaro she sets a trap for the count to return to her. “I see the count as a substantial figure, but a decadent, disintegrating personality who is no longer able to exist in a manner commensurate to his own significance. He is a man condemned to failure (although he does not have to suffer this failure here), who foolishly always falls into the same situations.” (Balázs Kovalik). Rosina, the countess is a real diva, “with strong desires, but she tries to hide them. We must not forget the beginning of her love and marriage (The Barber of Seville). Almaviva helped her conquest with a fib (a lie), when this was revealed Rosina began to have doubts and her emotions were confused: there was something false in this marriage right from the start. In this story Figaro has become a little stupid, slower and lazier, the brilliant citoyen who could see through everything does not appear to be so bright as he used to be. He has become slower, with the heaviness of a man who has made his mark. Nevertheless, Mozart portrays him as a positive hero. Susanna’s role is very thankless. She is secondary throughout and it is only at the last minute that she can blossom (in the Rose aria), one can say nothing bad about her, she has no doubts, she is touchingly naive. There may not be any Susannas in real life, but it would be good to believe that such people do exist.”

Conductor Péter Oberfrank was born in Brussels in 1966. He studied piano and percussion at the Béla Bartók Conservatoire in Budapest then earned diplomas from the department of piano (l989) and conducting (1993) of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. From 1991-1998 he was conductor-repetiteur at the Hungarian State Opera House, from 1999-2003 he was music director of the Szeged National Theatre and Open-air Festival. From 2003 he has been permanent guest conductor of the Hungarian State Opera House and from 2004 music director of the opera department at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. He has conducted opera productions at the Szentendre Summer Festival, the Szeged Open-air Festival, the Court of Music and the Miskolc Opera Festival. He has worked as conductor with Miklós Gábor Kerényi, Balázs Kovalik, András Békés, Sándor Zsótér and Péter Valló and has made guest appearances in a number of countries in Europe, in Japan and the United.

The biggest sensation of the exhibition is the collection of pieces by Louis Comfort Tiffany that forms part of the glass collection of the Museum of Applied Arts. They are the core of the exhibition presenting around 230 works of art by famous artists of Hungarian and international glass art (such as Emile Gallé, René Lalique, the Viennese Lobmeyr, the Hungarian István Sovánka). Tiffany creations preserved in the Museum of Applied Arts and pieces from private collections will be shown together for the first time.

Our exhibition presents an artist who at the most is remembered as a writer of children’s verse but is little known as an avant-garde artistic innovator despite the fact that his Dimensionist manifesto published in 1936 was signed by such artists as Arp, Duchamp, Kandinsky, Moholy-Nagy and Picabia.

It is a big challenge for artists to show how they can blend prehistoric art with art of the 21st century. Based on their individual character, emotions and technique their output is outstanding and visitors can see art objects that are a worthy contribution to Hungarian contemporary art.