Press Conference In Paris About The 2012 “Wagner In Budapest” Opera Festival

2011. October 03.

Csaba Káel, the Palace of Arts’ General Manager responded to questions from the representatives of French cultural media on the afternoon of Friday, 30th September. The press conference held at the Institute Hongrois de Paris was also attended by conductor Ádám Fischer, who presented the program of the 2012 “Wagner in Budapest“ Opera Festival, and introduced some upcoming performances’ Finnish and German soloists.

Csaba Káel, who was appointed General Manager of the Palace of Arts this March, held his first international press conference on Friday afternoon in Paris. At the event hosted by the Hungarian Institute of Paris he gave a brief account of the institute’s most important achievements to date, along with its future goals that were set according to them. The General Manager pointed out that because the Palace of Arts has established strong professional ties with almost all major institutes of music in Hungary over recent years, establishing European level partnerships may be the next step. Such partnerships are directly aimed at creating international productions by joining forces with European institutes of music of a similar magnitude.
In the future, the co-production strategy may increasingly incorporate the “Wagner in Budapest” Opera Festival, which has become one of the most important events in Europe’s cultural life, with programs featuring numerous acclaimed guest artists from abroad. At the press conference, Ádám Fischer – who is just now conducting Mozart’s opera entitled The Clemency of Titus at the Opéra Garnier in Paris – presented some of the greatest successes in the festival’s history, along with its line-up for 2012. Replying to a journalist’s question he said that he has been conducting Wagner at the Bayreuth Festival since 2001 and started to organise the festival in Hungary in 2006 on the initiative of the Richard Wagner Society of Budapest. He pointed out that it is the acoustics, the technical amenities, and the unique atmosphere of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall that combine to provide the euphoric experience of conducting Wagner at the Palace of Arts. The festival’s programs organised one year to the next have seen a number of artists returning. They include Finnish bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo, who is going to sing for the audience of “Wagner in Budapest” Opera Festival the second time around in the 2012 Ring Cycle, taking the role of Wotan. At the press conference in Paris, Mr. Uusitalo also praised the Palace of Arts’ artistically receptive environment and the intimate atmosphere of the concert hall. German tenor Klaus Florian Vogt – who will be on stage for the première of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg in the scope of “Wagner in Budapest” Opera Festival 2013 – was also present for the media event.

3.11.2011