Don Pasquale - OPERA IC AUDIOPHILE SERIES

There are evenings when our Opera House cannot perform because rehearsals are ongoing on stage until the evening. There are audience members who can only afford to hear their favourite pieces with a discount. And there are works that, although very popular, cannot be staged every season due to the congestion of productions. All these issues can be solved at once by the Hungarian State Opera’s new IC series, whose name carries the of iron curtain, but which may also gain popularity with the speed of an express train. Even though it will feature in the programme as a regular series beginning only with the next season, we are already presenting this new operatic format on several evenings during the current one as a preview. The titles are major works by great composers, requiring smaller choruses but offering fewer but particularly significant soloist roles.

Opera lovers receive a 20% discount and find the Opera House’s iron curtain lowered. The massive double steel plate, covering a surface of 170 m², does not only conceal the set of the next production behind it but also serve as an acoustic reflector meeting audiophile standards. Onto this enormous surface, decorated with architect Miklós Ybl’s engravings, we project a unique video installation, with Hungarian and English surtitles displayed at the top. The orchestra takes its usual place in the pit, while the hand-picked, first-rate singers step through the door in the iron curtain to perform at the front of the stage, in the limelight. The form is quasi-concert-like, but the soloists do not use sheet music, although they will wear period costumes, and the participating chorus performs from various points of the building. From all this, a single, significant, shared experience can emerge: the wonder of sound that feels much closer to the audience, magnifying gestures and offering a far more intense, truly record-quality acoustic experience compared to standard stage performances.

During the 2025/26 Beethoven–Mozart–Wagner season, two Don Pasquale and one Bluebeard’s Castle performance introduces the Opera IC format. In the following season, a series of Don Giovanni, Tosca, and Rigoletto performances can be expected.