CONCERT OF BOOS AND HISSES IN THE OPERA HOUSE

The Minister of Culture and the new director general have flopped. There was an unprecedented scandal in the company session of the Opera House caused by the introduction of its newly appointed leaders. The first measures taken by Árpád Jutocsa Hegyi, director general and by art director Gergely Kesselyák and strategic leader Péter Sziámi Müller (including the dismissal of composer Emil Petrovics and the approval of severe state restrictions in financing the Opera House) have been already received with antipathy.

The celebration opening the season was unusual as Minister of Culture András Bozóki addressed the meeting to express his support of the new leaders. When he praised the work of the former director, Miklós Szinetár, the prolonged applause sounded as a protest against the new leaders and the company booed and hissed constantly during the speeches. When Mr Jutocsa was speaking about the stagnation and the backwardness of the work of the Opera Company, a cacophony of shouts and laughter broke out. Miklós Szinetár in his concluding remarks said: ’The Opera House had been one of the leading European opera-houses’.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó