HÓKIRÁLYNŐ

The dice and the stopwatch will be coming out again at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall as it hosts another round of musical ‘battle’. When we talk about instrumental duels in the Hungarian capital these days, it is no longer necessarily Bach and Marchand, or even Liszt and Thalberg, that we are thinking of, because we have our own riveting concert series right here at Müpa Budapest.

What would happen if Sándor Petőfi were to write János Vitéz right here and now, before our very eyes? In this new stage version, the story emerges from a giant laptop, from which the two-dimensional and living characters of the tale come to life to bring the world of Johnny Corncob and Iluska into being through spoken word and song.

Eternally youthful even at 80, Géza Bereményi is one of the most colourful personalities on Hungary’s contemporary literary and cultural scene. A first-rate novelist and the director of now-classic films, Bereményi has also, and not least of all, proved to be a unique songwriter and lyricist with an unlimited font of inspiration and a personal stage presence that is an experience in itself.