'King Arthur', National Concert Hall, 18 November

In this opera concertante version, it has been decided to dispense with the prose sections. The work makes extreme demands on the singers who have to present themselves as very different characters. They do not perform the principal roles (in staged versions, this is the duty of the actors) but in episodes of great variety, must appear as gods, nymphs, shepherds in this tale that has at its centre King Arthur battling for his love, the blind Princess Emmeline.

Conductor of the English Baroque masterpiece, György Vashegyi is a distinguished personality of the historical performance practice. He formed the Purcell Choir in 1990 for a performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and his orchestra a year later chose the name Orfeo after the Hungarian premiere of Monteverdi’s epochal opera in full length. He has now given a diverse range of works their Hungarian premieres with his two ensembles, often in collaboration with the Hungarian singers, who participate in today’s performance.

The cast is given an international gleam with the addition of Julian Podger, a member of one of the leading Renaissance ensembles, Gothic Voices. He also sings in the Gabrieli Consort, the London Baroque and the Tallis Scholars and has worked with conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Hogwood and Paul McCreesh. German Raimund Nolte has also worked with finest figures of European early music. He sung Christ in Trevor Pinnock’s performance of St. Matthew Passion, appeared in Schubert’s Lazarus under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as well as at the unique René Jacobs opera production at the Dresden Music Festival."

Tickets: 2200,- 3100,- 4500,- 5600,- HUF

Henry Purcell: King Arthur, Z.628

Opera concertante in two parts
Libretto: John Dryden

Andrea Csereklyei, Szilvia Hamvasi, Eszter Wierdl – soprano, Péter Bárány – counter tenor, László Kálmán – tenor, Raimund Nolte – bass
Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra (on period instruments)
Conductor: György Vashegyi 

Source: Palace of Arts