Hungarian Christmas at the Opera House

Jenő Ádám's Christmas one-act was the first work to put plain Hungarian folk song on the Opera House stage alongside the classical repertoire, and it premiered there at Christmas 1931 with the composer conducting. Sung in Hungarian, with surtitles in both Hungarian and English, and no interval.

About the event

Ádám studied with Kodály and was the one who shaped and built out his teaching method, which tells you where the folk material in this piece comes from. The company's staging sets out to revive the essence of the singspiel, and it pairs the one-act with Miklós Kocsár's collection of carols, Oh, Beautiful, Mysterious Night, so the whole thing works as an Advent evening drawing on the Opera House's own past as much as on Hungary's. The Children's Chorus takes part. Attila Toronykőy directs, a man with a long record of staging work for young audiences, and his characters come out of folk tradition: the family, the angel, the shepherds and the soldier.

Dates and times

• Friday 4 December4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00
• Saturday 5 December4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00
• Saturday 12 December4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00
• Tuesday 15 December4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00
• Thursday 17 December4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00
• Tuesday 22 December4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00
• Monday 28 December4 December from 11:00, the other six dates from 15:00

Getting there