The Hungarian State Opera has announced its 2020-21 season with a focus on French culture, history, and operas.

The season will include a number of new productions including R. Strauss’ “Salome,” the world premiere of  Monteverdi and Máté Bella’s new take on “L’incoronazione di Poppea,” the world premiere of Vajda’s “Le Malade Imaginaire,” Philip Glass’ “Les Enfants Terribles,” Beethoven’s “Fidelio” and “König Stephan” to celebrate his 250th anniversary.

Other new productions include Ernő Dohnányi’s “Tante Simona,” Jenő Hubay’s “Le Luthier de Cremona,” Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann,” Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment,” the Hungarian premiere of Testoni’s “Fantasia / Fortuno,” Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier,” and Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande.” Bizet’s “Carmen” and Lully’s “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” will also be among the new productions.

The Hungarian State Opera will also present a project entitled FIGARO 3 which will include performances of Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Darius Milhaud’s “La mère coupable.”

To crown the season, the French Festival in May will showcase a number of productions from recent years including Poulenc’s “Les dialogues des Carmélites,” Massenet’s “Werther,” Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots,” and  Saint-Saëns’ “La princesse jaune.” The closing concert of the festival will feature French soprano Patricia Petibon and the annual gala will star Sophie Koch making her debut at the Erkel Theatre. During the season audiences will also get to see Ildar Abdrazakov and Andrea Rost in recitals.

The Hungarian State Opera will also continue touring Hungary and the world. The company will return to Berehove (Zakarpattia) for the third time with a concert version of “Carmen.” The new “Salome” production will travel to Brno (Czech Republic) while “Bánk Bán” and “Die Fledermaus” will go to Mumbai (India).