Royal Highness / The Verdict
György Selmeczi / János Vajda
Royal Highness / The Verdict
World premiere
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Last event date: Sunday, April 19 2026 7:00PM
The works by two significant authors of the German-speaking world, Thomas Mann and Friedrich Dürrenmatt, come to life in a single evening through new world premieres at the Hungarian State Opera. The two one-act operas are composed by popular contemporary Hungarian composers: György Selmeczi adapts Mann’s autobiographically inspired, fairy-tale-like novel Royal Highness into the language of music, while János Vajda places Dürrenmatt’s increasingly serious “game” from the novella The Verdict into a chamber opera setting, within the intimate atmosphere of the Bánffy Stage at the Eiffel Art Studios. Both stories are marked by unexpected turns, but while the arranged marriage of his royal highness gradually transforms into true love, Dürrenmatt’s hero takes part in a game whose outcome is anything but a joke.
Royal Highness
An American millionaire arrives with his daughter in a fictional German principality plagued by perpetual economic troubles. Love blossoms between the German crown prince and the American girl – but the question remains: will the principality’s problems be resolved, and can the young couple be together? Thomas Mann’s Königliche Hoheit (Royal Highness) is a rarely mentioned early work – his second novel, following the 1901 Buddenbrooks – published in 1909. With its blend of fairy-tale and even Hollywood-like motifs, the story served as inspiration for György Selmeczi’s opera.
The OPERA premiered Selmeczi’s Spiritisti in 2014. More than a decade later, much has changed, but the composer remains, as does conductor János Kovács. Moreover, director Máté Szabó is also a “long-time team member,” having previously staged several of the composer’s works.
The Verdict
Traps, a travelling salesman, finds himself stranded one night when his car breaks down. With no other options, he seeks shelter in a nearby house, where he is not only offered lodging and dinner but also receives an unexpectedly warm welcome. Four retired gentlemen and a housekeeper invite him in. Traps accepts their hospitality and even joins in their peculiar game. The retirees take on the roles of their former professions – a judge, a lawyer, a prosecutor, and an executioner. All that’s missing for their mock trial is a defendant, a role the newcomer unwittingly assumes. As the evening progresses, with exquisite dishes and fine wines flowing, the game gradually becomes more serious… Following the 2020 opera The Imaginary Invalid, the same creative trio – composer János Vajda, librettist Szabolcs Várady, and scriptwriter Diána Eszter Mátrai – delight audiences once again with an adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s novella A Dangerous Game. True to tradition, the production is conducted by János Kovács and directed by Máté Szabó.
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