The librettos of these new one-act operas are based on works of German prose: György Selmeczi used a novel by Thomas Mann, while János Vajda turned to a novella by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Royal Highness is a parable with motifs familiar from folk tales and even Hollywood movies, while The Verdict is a psychological thriller with a unique atmosphere.
In János Vajda’s piece, four retired gentlemen pass the time with an interesting parlour game, in which they play their original professions – that of a judge, a defence lawyer, a prosecutor and an executioner. All they need for their imitation trial is a defendant. György Selmeczi’s opera explores the dilemmas that arise from the tension of tradition and modernity. The staging and the music are essentially defined by time when the story is set, i.e. the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and with it, by the typical situations of the period’s operas.

This is an opera performance in Hungarian, with Hungarian and English surtitles and one intermission.