“There is no date in the half-a-century history of our Opera House as important as the premier day of Béla Bartók’s first pantomime ballet The Wooden Prince on 12 May 1917.

It was the first time that the Hungarian spirit, the genius of Vörösmarty, Petőfi and Ady’s nation was expressed in its true greatness and absolute authenticity in the music played in the Hungarian opera”, writes musicologist Aladár Tóth, who later became the director of the OPERA.

The piece that has been part of the repertoire almost constantly in the 105 years passed since its original premier has been staged by several renowned choreographers.

This mixture of a fairytale-like world of a forest and the realistically deep and human struggles of men and women, is brought to life in the 2022/23 season by László Velekei, ballet director of Győr Ballet.

Place: Opera House Budapest

Address: 1061 Budapest, Andrássy út 22.