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On the Day of Hungarian Opera, the Hungarian State Opera held a special ceremony to celebrate its legacy and honor its artists and staff. The event, hosted at the Opera House’s Medgyaszay Hall, included the presentation of awards, jubilee rings, and certificates of perpetual membership to both current and posthumous members.
During the ceremony, new perpetual members were welcomed into the prestigious body, replacing opera singer István Berczelly and ballet master Ildikó Kaszás, who passed away this year. Anatolij Fokanov, opera singer, and Jenő Lőcsey, ballet artist, were admitted as new members, reports Magyar Nemzet. Posthumous memberships were awarded to opera singer János Csányi and clarinetist Béla Kovács, both of whom made significant contributions to Hungarian opera.
The Opera’s management announced plans to expand the perpetual membership from 40 to 50 members by 2025.
In addition to the membership recognitions, several artists were honored for their artistic excellence. Mária Farkasréti received the György Melis Prize for her exceptional Hungarian singing, while Polina Pasztircsák was awarded the Mária Sudlik Prize for her talent and stage presence. Principal Conductor Martin Rajna received the Zoltán Závodszky Prize for his achievements in Wagner performances, and the Nelly Vágó Memorial Prize went to costume designer Gábor Michac for his enduring contributions to the field.
Long-serving staff were also acknowledged for their dedication to the Opera.
This year, employees with 25 years of service were presented with a commemorative gold ring.
The ceremony concluded with the presentation of the Opera Corpus Press Prize, awarded to Egon Rónai, a presenter at ATV. The event ended with a performance by Anatolij Fokanov, and the audience joined in singing a memorable excerpt from Zoltán Kodály’s folk opera, Háry János.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured Image: opera.hu