The 2023/24 season of the Hungarian National Ballet

With about 100 performances throughout the season, the Hungarian National Ballet offers a grand selection of classical, neo-classical, and contemporary repertoire from Swan Lake to the ballet-opera Les Enfants Terribles. The company received the rights to perform a couple of extremely demanding pieces only recently including John Cranko’s Onegin and Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling. The latter – now in its third season – was revived for the 2022 reopening of the Opera House to great success, and it was praised by numerous international reviewers as well.

The critically acclaimed new productions of the previous season also return to the programme: Boris Eifman’s The Pygmalion Effect is sure to bring down the house again. Bartók’s The Wooden Prince, as reimagined by László Velekei makes up a triple bill entitled Bartók DanceTriptych with new choreographies of The Miraculous Mandarin and Dance Suite, the former by Marianna Venekei, the latter by Kristóf Várnagy.

This season, the longest-ever The Nutcracker series is planned with over 40 performances between November 2023 and January 2024. Wayne Eagling and Tamás Solymosi’s version returned to the Opera House after the restoration, and it includes nearly 50 students from the Hungarian National Ballet Institute, the ballet school of the Hungarian State Opera. The students also have opportunities to showcase their talent in downscaled classical productions such as Little Swan Lake and Little Sleeping Beauty staged for young audiences with Little Corsaire being added to the series in spring 2024.

Those who prefer contemporary pieces can see the stars of the Hungarian National Ballet excel in them. These modern ballets are chosen carefully and presented on one night. Pieces by numerous influential contemporary choreographers: Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Hans van Manen, Johan Inger, Wayne McGregor, Paul Lightfoot and Sol León are featured in the season’s programme. Several of them are presented at the Eiffel Art Studios, the new logistics and artistic centre of the Hungarian State Opera.

All classical pieces that are presented at the magnificently restored Opera House are accompanied live by the Hungarian State Orchestra under the baton of renowned resident and guest conductors including: Tibor Bogányi, David Coleman, Paul Connelly, Domonkos Héja, Thomas Herzog, Imre Kollár, and Gergely Vajda.

To access the entire 2023/24 season, visit opera.hu