Bastien és Bastienne / A telefon

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was barely 12 years old when he composed his bucolic opera Bastien and Bastienne, which was performed in an "alternative venue", a certain Dr Mesmer's garden. It was in the house of the very same Mesmer whose magnetism Mozart would refer back to with such comic effect towards the end of his operatic career in Così fan tutte. According to the sources, Wolfgang the Sorcerer himself composed Colas's magical aria in gibberish ('Diggi, daggi, schurri, murri...'), and in the overture it is a curious fact that the main theme is virtually identical to the main theme of the first movement of Beethoven's much later Eroica symphony...

Bastien now becomes a love story for children, with a touch of magic, involving another small piece in a truly alternative venue: the stage of the main hall of the Opera House, on the raised platform of the orchestra pit - under the famous ceiling fresco by Károly Lotz.

Gian Carlo Menotti

The telephone

Menotti's 1947 one-act opera was a charming joke at the time of its premiere. Today, it is a tragicomic vision of an age: mobile communications have rewritten our world and given the work new layers of meaning. Our performance sets the story in the hustle and bustle of today's big city, telling the story not just of two people, but of a generation that lives its life on the phone, email and social networking sites, while slowly forgetting to look each other in the eye. A chamber opera with elements of contemporary physical theatre and (maybe) a happy ending.

Directed by András Almási-Tóth and adapted for children's audiences by Andrea Valkai.