It is hereby announced that following the successful premieres of recent days (Cactuses, Salome, Dead Man Walking), beginning with 17 September 2020, the Hungarian State Opera is compelled to suspend all rehearsals until 1 October due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. Consequently, all performances are cancelled until 17 October 2020.
The decision had to be made after the members of the ensembles of the Opera had contracted the disease: sporadically in the Opera Chorus and the Hungarian National Ballet, whereas the engine of all performances, the Opera Orchestra contracted it in larger numbers. In addition, some of the soloists had contracted the disease, too. The situation constantly endangers the performances as well as puts the health of the artists at risk. Furthermore, the number of audiences keep decreasing with the epidemic getting worse day by day. On the one hand, playing on for empty houses is a waste of public money. On the other hand, it puts people at risk unnecessarily. It is time to accept the fact that an orchestra in the pit, a chorus and a corps of ballet on stage can only be protected from this type of disease for a short while only. Even so, in the past two months, 16 grand performances, audio and film recording projects have been carried out successfully for and audience of 15 thousand.
Exceptions are Bach's Birthday on 19 September 2020, and Béniowski, ou les Exilés du Kamchatka on 22 September 2020. These performances will take place as they require a small number of artists (piano accompaniment instead of orchestral, no chorus). Due to travel restrictions, Faust and Les pêcheurs de perles, the guest performances by the Saint Petersburg Chamber Opera are also cancelled. Further notice about future performances is to be expected no later than 1 October 2020.
During this period, every weekend we present Masquerade, a series of online aria recitals with piano accompaniment broadcast from the Eiffel Art Studios on our social media platforms. For further information on dates and performers please follow our website and Facebook page.
Other departments, such as the Opera Sales Centre, are not affected by this new lockdown. For information on tickets bought for cancelled performances please contact the sales team via e-mail: ticket@opera.hu.
As the number of people involved in an opera or ballet rehearsal equals the number of spectators in a sold-out auditorium of a smaller theatre, the Hungarian State Opera was expected to be the first to face the performances getting impossible to take place. Even with this knowledge, it is difficult to accept the situation for the artists and the management of the Opera. However, to protect the employees and the audiences, the above measures are inevitable to introduce at once. The Opera is looking forward to the time when it can resume its job to entertain its audiences.
Until further notice we require your understanding and cooperation. We hope to be able to receive you at our performances soon.
Opera Communication
