The two Hungarians not only played music, they were themselves the music – in every nerve – down to their fingertips.

Adelheid von Schorn on Reményi and Liszt
José Cura:Montezuma and the red priest

29 January 2020, 19.30-22.00

Grand Hall

José Cura:Montezuma and the red priest

Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

JOSÉ CURA: MONTEZUMA AND THE RED PRIEST – opera buffa (ma non troppo) – world premiere – half-staged version

 

Prologo
Francisquillo – János Alagi
El Amo – Matias Tosi
La Amante – Katalin Károlyi
Backstage voices:
A Woman – Gabriella Sallay
A Man – Péter Tóth

 

Quintet:
1. Nóra Ducza (also Donna 2 in Stornello)
2. Bernadett Nagy (also Donna 4 in Stornello)
3. Kornélia Bakos (also Donna 1 in Stornello)
4. József Csapó (also Uomo 1 and Pignatta in Stornello)
5. Szabolcs Hámori (also Uomo 3 in Stornello)

 

Il Carnevale
Vivaldi – Donát Varga
Host – Róbert Rezsnyák
Filomeno – Zoltán Megyesi
Händel – Domonkos Bazsó
Scarlatti: József Gál 

 

Stornello
Donna 3 – Katalin Süveges
Uomo 2 – Gábor Pivarcsi

 

L’Ospedale
Noun – Borbála László
Orphans orchestra:
Bianca Maria – Fruzsina Varga (flute)
Claudia – Melinda Kozár (oboe)
Cattarina – Yoshie Toyonaga (clarinet)
Lucietta – Dóra Béres (trumpet)
Pierina – Ildikó Fazekas (violin)
Bettina – Katalin Madák (viola)
Margherita – Rita Keresztes (cello)
Giuseppina – Gerda Kocsis (double bass)

 

Il Cimitero
The Gondoliere and the Friar – Róbert Rezsnyák

La Prova
Motezuma – Matias Tosi
Teutile – Nóra Ducza
Ramiro – Kornélia Bakos
Fernando – Bernadett Nagy
Mitrena – Katalin Károlyi
Stage Manager – Pál Kálmán Könyves
Spectator – Péter Tóth

 

Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (choirmaster: Zoltán Pad)
Organ, harpsichord, continuo: Soma Dinyés
Conductor: José Cura

“In 1988 a friend of mine presented me with a book for my 26th birthday: Alejo Carpentier’s Concierto Barroco. Inside, my friend’s handwritten dedication served as a way to plant the seed of the idea of making an opera out of this fantastic novel. So I read, and notated every page —but I had no operatic experience at all back then and so I didn't know where to begin when it came to writing an opera. The book “slept” in my library for 29 years, until we decided to reorganise it in 2017 and, in the process, Concierto Barroco fell out of its shelf, but this time my friend’s prophecy was here to stay.

I reread the novel, and was impressed by how perfectly it could fit into a comic opera, “comic” not only in the sense of it being intentionally laughter-inducing, but also in the way the story is structured, in a madcap fashion —with some interesting morals to be found along the way. An opera buffa, ma non troppo, as I subtitled it. I wrote the first draft of the libretto in one afternoon (or was it in 30 years?) and put music to it in the summer of 2017, finally orchestrating it in 2019.” (José Cura)

 

 

Presented by

Hungarian Radio Art Groups

Tickets:

HUF 2 000, 3 000, 4 000, 5 000