VALUSKA Eötvös – Hungarian State Opera

Péter Eötvös’s new opera takes us to a bare, grey world of an unknown yet familiar small town, and reveals the tragi-comedy world of the protagonist, newspaper delivery man, János Valuska. In the tradition of the Shakespearean fool, Valuska is different from the townspeople. He is an innocent, infatuated with astronomy and man’s position in the universe. The arrival in town of a circus - with, as star attraction, the world’s largest taxidermied whale - has explosive consequences. With its world premiere on 2 December 2023, Valuska is an important event for the Hungarian State Opera and, more widely, for all those interested in opera today. Péter Eötvös, the internationally acclaimed composer who celebrates his 80th birthday in January 2024, was commissioned by the Hungarian State Opera in 2018 to compose his 13th opera and his first in Hungarian. It is based on the 1989 novel The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai, who won the International Man Booker Prize in 2015. ‘Valuska, a young man with a pure heart, becomes a victim of a manipulative society in the shadow of a stuffed whale’ says Péter Eötvös. He has transformed the novel into a performance that combines several genres of opera and theatre with the grotesque. This is a bare, grey world but one with a lot of humour, where the surreal turns painfully believable. Full performance streamed on OperaVision from 19 January 2024 at 19:00 CET to 19 July 2024 at 12:00 CET: CAST János Valuska Zsolt Haja Hagelmayer / Narrator Tünde Szalontay Mrs Pflaum Adrienn Miksch Tünde Tünde Szabóki A peasant woman Mária Farkasréti Professor András Hábetler Man in broadcloth coat / Senior officer Krisztián Cser Director István Horváth The Prince’s aide Balázs Papp univ. stud. Nadabán Lőrinc Kósa Mádai András Kiss Volent János Szerekován Ticket inspector Zoltán Bátki Fazekas An officer Attila Erdős Men Benjámin Beeri Ninh Duc Hoang Long Gergely Halász . Bence Pataki Gergely Ujvári Botond Pál Donát Varga Orchestra Hungarian State Opera Orchestra Chorus Hungarian State Opera Chorus Music Péter Eötvös Text Kinga Keszthelyi Mari Mezei Conductor Kálmán Szennai Director Bence Varga Sets Botond Devich Costume Kató Huszár Lights Sándor Baumgartner Artistic assistants Sylvie Gábor Andrea Valkai Musical assistants Pálma Hidegkuti Jean Klára Bálint Zsoldos Assistant Conductor Levente Zsíros Chorus Master Gábor Csiki OperaVision is a freeview opera streaming platform, supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme. Watch live streams as the performances themselves unfold in the opera house. Enjoy a variety of shows - including opera, operetta, musical theatre, dance, ballet and concerts. Opera connaisseur or curious newcomer, there is something for everyone on OperaVision. @operavision