KALÁKA KONCERT

Attendind a performance of Messiah is always a thrilling experience, but it is especially so when Handel’s work – which has become a national classic in England – is performed by a dedicated ensemble like the legendary German flagship of the international early-music scene: the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, now with over 44 years of history behind it. The storied chamber orchestra will perform with one of the world’s finest mixed choirs, the RIAS Kammerchor, which also hails from Berlin and was founded in the years immediately following the Second World War.

Szilvia Bognár, Bori Magyar and Ági Szalóki are three leading female figures in the Hungarian folk and world music scene, who have put the joy and power of communal singing at the heart of their new joint production.

What happens when the heroes of Mozart’s opera are portrayed on stage not by singers, but by finely crafted marionette figures? The Salzburg Marionette Theatre’s production offers a barely one-hour version of this iconic piece from the opera repertoire: while preserving its essential musical and dramatic pillars, it guides the audience through Tamino, Pamina, and Papageno’s adventures in a more accessible, dense form.