The opera performances on the programme will deal with Christianity in a deep and thorough manner, Ókovács said. These will include not only Biblical stories, but operas that celebrate or even clash with Christianity, such as Wagner’s Tannhäuser, he added.

The season will wind up in May 2020 with a Christianity-themed festival, held in the run-up to the 52nd International Eucharistic Conference which Budapest will host in September, he said.

Touching on the Hungarian State Opera’s autumn tour, Ókovács said the opera and the Hungarian State Ballet are scheduled for 14 performances of six productions at the David H Koch Theater in New York’s Lincoln Center.

The chance to perform full productions in New York is a first for the opera and presents an “enormous opportunity”, he added. Among the productions on the Lincoln Center programme is the iconic Hungarian opera Bánk bán, which will be sung on the 125th anniversary of the composer Ferenc Erkel’s death

Between August 31 and September 9, the opera will bring Donizetti’s comic opera L’elisir d’amore, sung in Hungarian, to eight venues in Transylvania. A specially outfitted lorry will serve as the stage for the production.

The opera will visit Italy, as part of the 2018/2019 Puccini’s Italy season, on September 14-20. It will perform in six cities, including Lucca, the birthplace of Puccini.

At the end of September, the opera will tour the capitals of the other Visegrad Group countries: Prague, Warsaw and Bratislava. Czech, Polish and Slovakian artists, as well as Hungarians, will take the stage together during the tour.

MTI Photo: lllyés Tibor