Announcing the programme for the 2015 Szeged Open-Air Festival
After an absence of ten years, a Verdi opera will again be performed at the Szeged Open-Air Festival, joined by the first Shakespearean work in more than a decade. The directors held a press conference today to discuss the programme for the coming summer, with ticket sales commencing on the same day.
2015: From Un ballo in maschera to Les Misérables
Ten years after the last such occasion, Dóm Square will again play host to one of Verdi's operas: Un ballo in maschera will open this summer's season with two performances on July 3 and 4. It is worth noting that it was at the Szeged Open-Air Festival in 1998 that the work was first performed in Hungary with its original libretto and characters. Festival-goers have not had a chance to see Verdi's masterpiece since then.
Visiting Szeged as a guest performance will be the Budapest Operetta Theatre's wildly successful production of Abigail, which has never been performed on an outdoor stage. The full-scale musical work based on the novel by Magda Szabó, one of Hungary's most popular writers, and one whose books have enchanted generations of readers, was composed by Tibor Kocsák, who also conducted Mamma Mia! at the festival this past summer. The libretto, which brings a new perspective to the heart-warming and bittersweet story, is the work of Tibor Miklós. Attendees will be able to enjoy it on Dóm Square on July 10 and 11.
As already announced, Tamás Szirtes's production of the hit musical Mamma Mia! will be returning on July 17, 18 and 19. Ticket sales commenced at the beginning of August, and in the short period since then purchasers have already snapped up 15% of the available seats. The musical built around songs by ABBA was the biggest success of the year, with altogether 28,000 people exulting in the popular music and breathtaking staging. The same Madách Theatre production will be returning next summer, with a new cast featured.
It has been 13 years since a Shakespearean play was last performed on Dóm Square, and in 2015 viewers will be able to see one the English playwright's most popular works: The Comedy of Errors. The festival's management is starting the process of signing up the very finest cast of prose actors, who are sure to make watching this tale of colourful characters caught up in a sequence of humorous twists and turns full of reversed roles and mistaken identities into an exceptionally entertaining event. Audiences will get the chance to see this production, for which musical embellishments are also planned, on July 31 and August 1.
Closing the season will be one of the most popular works in the history of musical theatre: on August 14, 15, 16, 21 and 22 we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the London première of Claude-Michel Schönberg's adaptation of Victor Hugo's monumental novel Les Misérables, and at the same time give attendees of the Szeged Open-Air Festival their first opportunity in 27 years to see the legendary piece, as it was in Szeged in 1987 where the musical was first staged in Hungary, with a highly successful film being made of the production afterwards. Next year's production will be a joint première with the Madach Theatre.
As usual, there will also be an open concert in 2015. The free evenings featuring the Szeged Symphonic Orchestra are highly popular with the inhabitants of Szeged, and we can count on a quality performance this year as well. So far it is confirmed that Danish soprano Signe Ravn Heiberg, winner of an honourable mention at the International Éva Marton Singing Competition held for the first time recently, will be one of the featured artists, as the opportunity to appear in the open concert was one of the prizes offered to the winners of this prestigious contest.
Újszeged: plans for an international theatrical festival
Artistic Director Gyula Harangozó has stressed that admission prices will again remain unchanged. Tickets can be purchased for as little as 3,300 forints, with the most expensive seats going for 15,750 forints. This year, ticket sales are starting earlier than in the past, with the box office opening simultaneously with this announcement of the programme. The festival's management will be offering various discounted passes for multiple performances in time for the Christmas season, which will primarily benefit those audience members who live in and around Szeged, since they are the ones most likely to attend more than one performance.
As is customary, the directors will be announcing the programme for the Újszeged Open-Air Stage and the cast lists for the Dóm Square events later on. However, they would like to make mention now of large-scale plans for a long-range initiative: starting from 2016, they are planning to launch an international theatrical festival on the “little stage” in Újszeged's municipal park, which has capacity for an audience of one thousand. As the Open-Air Festival took an active role in launching the Mezzo Opera Festival, the management already has experience with setting up similar, international-calibre events.
Megosztom
2014. September 29.
