Bánk bán - Schedule, Program & Tickets

Bánk bán

Director: Vidnyánszky Attila
General cast:
Conductor: Ádám Medveczky

Endre II, king of Hungary: Marcell Bakonyi / András Káldi Kiss
Gertrud, his queen: Ildikó Komlósi / Judit Németh
Ottó: Péter Balczó / István Horváth
Bánk bán, the viceroy: Levente Molnár / Csaba Szegedi
Melinda, his wife: Zita Szemere / Orsolya Hajnalka Rőser
Tiborc, a peasant: Kolos Kováts / István Rácz
Petur bán, leader of the nobles: Zsolt Haja / Zoltán Kelemen
Biberach, a knight-errant: Lajos Geiger / Antal Cseh
A royal officer: Gergely Irlanda


In 1844, following on the heels of his triumph in the competition to set Ferenc Kölcsey's Himnusz – today the national anthem of Hungary – to music, Ferenc Erkel set about looking at the possibilities for using József Katona's much-attacked drama Bánk bán as the subject for an opera. History made the period of composition a lengthy one: first came the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848/49, and censorship by the dictatorship that followed meant that the audience would have to wait until 9 March 1861 before the work could be performed in its entirety at Pest's National Theatre.
The unique aspect of Attila Vidnyánszky's production of Bánk bán – a work that maintains its popularity as a result of, or perhaps in spite of, well-executed additions and revisions – is that its text and musical material were created using both the original and baritone versions, in part as a tribute to Imre Palló, the inspiration behind the baritone version.

Premiere: Sept. 9, 2017
Opera in two parts, three acts, in Hungarian, with Hungarian and English surtitles
Age limit: over 14 years

Subject to change.

There are no products matching the selection.