With this year’s guest of honor being Denmark, the country of Hamlet will bring, among others, their internationally renowned Danish Royal Ballet, the Hotel Pro Forma and the world-famous Ars Nova Copenhagen choir.
Make sure you visit the exhibition (also by Danish artists) titled Power Games, which aims to raise awareness of certain social and political issues and explore the role of contemporary art. The collection fits into the festival’s framework of encouraging people, inspired by art, to take more social responsibility. In this spirit, there’ll be exhibitions by Roma artists such as Mara Oláh’s paintings, a theater production staged by young director talent Rodrigó Balogh and a performance by the Roma Virtuoso Orchestra.
The festival also pays tribute to Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel, by staging six of his operas and presenting lectures on his life. But it’s not all about Magyars. The festival lines up numberless international stars, the likes of viola masters Jurij Basmet and Nigel Kennedy opera singer Erwin Schrott from Uruguay, the virtuoso percussionist Evelyn Glennie, and the master of Andalusian rhythms, Paco de Lucía.
Oh, and this year the organizers have a little surprise up their sleeves, too; joining forces with the National Theater, part of the Spring Festival, there’ll be an International Theater Festival showcasing a selection of local and foreign productions, the likes of Thalia Theater Hamburg’s The truth about THE KENNEDYS by Luk Perceval, Münchner Kammerspiele’s HIOB or the Zajc Croatian National Theater’s unusual production, Turbo Folk, revealing dark leftovers of Yugoslavian heritage. The Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollack Dance Company was inspired by a Japanese tale; their performance, Hydra, is a combination of dance, pantomime and acrobatics. The Magyar premiere will be director Péter Gothár’s addaptation of King Lear in the National Theater.
So, get clicking and booking, as tickets will be snapped up soon – and you don’t want to miss out on saying goodbye to this darn cold winter properly, right?
March 19 – April 5
30th Budapest Spring Festival
All around Budapest
Tel.: +36.1.486.3300
www.btf.hu (Hun, Eng, Ger)