King Pomade's New Clothes

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.

What happens when the worst traits of a power-hungry prince incapable of resisting earthly pleasures, a morally corrupt, vengeful, manipulative woman, and a desire-driven but highly impressionable teenage girl all erupt at the same time upon the appearance of a holy man?

A century ago, the world first encountered this remarkable opus, a work that soon became one of the cornerstones of twentieth-century musical innovation. Premiered in 1926, the singspiel is a milestone in Hungarian music history: its composer, Zoltán Kodály, fulfilled his aspiration to elevate Hungarian folk song of ancient origin to the same status as classical music, by virtue of its equivalent values, placing it on the stage of the nation’s Opera House.