Starring Klára Kolonits, Gabriella Balga, and Juraj Hollý in the leading roles, conducted by Martin Rajna and directed by Máté Szabó, a full-scale stage production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda is being presented for the first time in Hungary. The grand production, featuring the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, will premiere on 10 May 2025, at the Opera House, and the 16 May performance will be streamed live on OperaVision.
While Queen Elizabeth I of England is being courted by foreign suitors, the monarch, in despair, realizes that Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester and dear to her heart, bestows his attention instead on Mary Stuart. After some hesitation, the earl confesses his intentions: he is interceding on behalf of the Scottish queen, who has been under house arrest for 18 years, to arrange a personal meeting between the two royal cousins to settle their disputes. However, the intense emotions that erupt during the tense encounter soon seal the fate of the prisoner.
Maria Stuarda is the story of two women with great dignity, each vulnerable in different ways. Although both Donizetti and the Schiller play that served as the opera's source enriched the real events with numerous literary elements – such as the love triangle and the meeting between the two queens – the complex premise has fascinated later generations for centuries, continually inspiring new interpretations by artists. The work, evoking the finest musical traditions of Italian bel canto now being staged by Máté Szabó, one of the most talented directors of spoken and musical theatre of his generation. “We see a political labyrinth in which two radiant figures search for a path to each other and to themselves,” describes the director the premise. The premiere at the Opera House is accompanied by a spectacular visual world befitting the occasion, created by internationally acclaimed designer Csaba Antal, known for his set designs in numerous productions by Balázs Kovalik (Peter Grimes, The Turn of the Screw, Elektra, Mefistofele), and costume designer Anni Füzér, a regular collaborator of Máté Szabó (L'italiana in Algeri, Manon Lescaut, John, the Valiant). Lighting is by Csaba Szilárdi, video projections by Zsombor Czeglédi, and stage movement by Gergely Csanád Kováts.
Maria Stuarda is presented at the Opera House with a top-tier cast. In the title role appears Klára Kolonits, Kammersängerin of the Hungarian State Opera and recipient of the Kossuth and Liszt Prizes. The internationally acclaimed coloratura soprano previously made a highly successful debut in the role in a concert performance in Szeged. Her rival, Elizabeth I, is played by fellow Kammersängerin Gabriella Balga, who has partnered with Kolonits in Così fan tutte and Les Huguenots at the OPERA, and Norma in Debrecen. Robert Dudley is portrayed by the Slovak tenor Juraj Hollý, active throughout Europe, who impressed the Budapest audience during the guest performance of King Roger by the National Theatre of Košice. Further roles are performed by Melinda Heiter (Anna Kennedy), István Kovács (George Talbot), and Opera Studio member Norbert Balázs (William Cecil). The 61-member orchestra and 65-member chorus (chorus director: Gábor Csiki) are conducted by principal conductor Martin Rajna and Kálmán Szennai.
Following the premiere on May 10, 2025, Maria Stuarda will be performed six more times: on 14, 16, 18, 23, 25 (matinée), and 31 May. The 16 May performance will be streamed live on OperaVision’s online platform, established under the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme. Afterward, the production will remain freely available for six months, until 16 November 2025.
Donizetti began composing Maria Stuarda in 1834 for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, but the depiction of the conflict between the two queens drew considerable criticism from censors. After the dress rehearsal, the king himself banned the opera. It was eventually staged only six times under the title Buondelmonte, set in an Italian historical context, in October 1834. A year later, Donizetti was granted the opportunity to present the original opera at La Scala in Milan, though this, too, proved unsuccessful. While new stagings were attempted over the next three decades, the opera fell into obscurity after the 1865 Naples production and wasn’t performed again for nearly a century. Though a few concert or staged productions were mounted in the second half of the 20th century, the opera only regained its rightful place in the international repertoire in the 1990s, following the release of its critical edition. In Hungary, the work was first presented in a concert form in 2022, at the Szeged National Theatre, starring Klára Kolonits, Csilla Boross, and Roland Tötös, conducted by Dániel Dinyés.
