Free concerts, traditional performances, food tastings, and craft workshops await visitors on June 27–28 at the Crystal Theater.Continue reading
More than ever before, 760 ball-goers are expected to attend the 200th Anna Ball, which will be held on Saturday, July 26, at the Anna Grand Hotel in Balatonfüred (northern shore of Lake Balaton). Tickets are already sold out, based on the announcement from the organizers.
Based on an announcement from event organizers, Mayor István Bóka (Fidesz-KDNP) reported that as part of the Muzsikáló Magyarország (Musical Hungary) program, a 40-piece gypsy orchestra will perform at the ball, followed by 200 gypsy musicians playing on five stages on Tagore Promenade the next day. The mayor added that they are trying to attract local young people with a new event, Kati Zoób’s Sokadalom program, and expressed his delight that the city has once again invited 18-year-old girls from Füred to the ball, and that this time 33 local debutantes will take part in the event.
Soós Kriszta Szonja (center), 18, from Balatonfüred, was crowned Belle of the Ball at the 199th Anna Ball. Her first runner-up was Angelika Mihály, 21, from Budapest (left), and second runner-up Jázmin Bundschuh, 17, also from Budapest (right), during the award ceremony. Photo: MTI/Tamás Vasvári
The Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra will play the traditional palace march and the opening waltz, which will be danced by ballet artists from the Opera House. The ball audience will be treated to an operetta program directed by Csaba Káel, with dance music by Gábor Gábriel Farkas and his orchestra, followed by the Sakk-Matt Company led by Róbert Dervalics.
It was emphasized that this year, the ceremonial opening of the Anna Ball will be shown live on a giant screen on the Kisfaludy Stage on Tagore Promenade, and at midnight, the selection of the ball’s beauties will be broadcast, with performances by the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble and Attila Kökény and Viktor Rakonczay in between.
To mark the bicentenary, the Herend Porcelain Manufactory is preparing special goblets for the ball’s beauties, and this year, all female participants will receive a numbered Herend porcelain heart as a souvenir. According to Attila Simon, CEO of Herend Porcelain Manufactory Ltd., the color of the ball hearts was inspired by Lake Balaton shells, so the ladies will wear pearl-colored, baby blue hearts around their necks.
A unique version of the Victoria, Apponyi, and Rothschild patterned goblets awarded to the ball’s beauties has been created for the 200th ball, he added. At the ball, guests will be served from 3,500 pieces of tableware worth a total of 150 million forints (around 384,000 euros). The appetizer will be Balaton fish fillet and perch, followed by a soup made from grey cattle essence. The main course will be a duet of Mangalica pork and duck, and the dessert will be almond sponge cake and raspberry mousse.
The ball will be accompanied by the Anna Festival from July 21 to 27, during which a book recounting the 200-year history of the Anna Ball will be presented. The State Opera House will hold an opera gala on the large stage set up in Gyógy Square, preceded by a performance by the Opera House choir the day before. Szilveszter Ókovács, Director General of the Hungarian State Opera House, said that in the bicentennial year, only works by Hungarian composers will be performed at the opera gala accompanying the ball, with a selection of pieces by Ferenc Erkel and Zoltán Kodály.
Ballet dancers from the Hungarian State Opera perform a traditional palotás dance during the opening of the 199th Anna Ball in the park of the Anna Grand Hotel. Photo: MTI/Tamás Vasvári
A special evening concert with a string orchestra, the Night of Serenades, promises a special atmosphere for the debutantes. The popular heart-stealing game and the gala for first violinists, organized in collaboration with the House of Traditions, will take place.
At the ball, the audience votes for the 15 most beautiful girls, from whom a professional jury selects the ball queen and her ladies-in-waiting, who are presented at midnight.
The ball’s beauties will be paraded in carriages the next morning, accompanied by gypsy musicians, along Balatonfüred’s promenade.
Participants of the 199th Anna Ball make their ceremonial procession from the Vaszary Villa to the Anna Grand Hotel in Balatonfüred. Photo: MTI/Tamás Vasvári
Via MTI; Featured photo: MTI/Vasvári Tamás