Viewers of the 28 October 2020 OperaWednesday witnessed a certain kind of premiere: highlights of two one-act operas by Testoni entitled Fantasio and Fortunio were streamed live from the Sándor Hevesi Stage of the Eiffel Art Studios from 8:00 p.m.
The two one-act operas by contemporary Italian composer Giampaolo Testoni based on the plays of the French Romantic dramatist Alfred de Musset were already produced by artists of the Hungarian State Opera in 2018, in cooperation with Teatro Coccia, in Novara. The 2020 Budapest premiere of a new stage version directed by Mária Harangi had to be postponed due to the epidemic, but viewers could now see the best parts of the two pieces. They both take place in the borderlands between the worlds of the imagination and reality, the event fluctuate thrillingly between a dream world and reality, and sometimes it is nearly impossible to decide what is fantasy and what is actually happening.
The highlights featured costumes by Richárd Marton and Kálmán Szennai on the piano. Both title roles were sung by Gabriella Balga, her partners on stage were Gábor Csiki, Attila Erdős, Mária Farkasréti, Géza Gábor, Zoltán Megyesi, Zsófia Nagy. The performance was narrated by Dániel Mona.
The performance can be seen HERE.
Photo by Péter Rákossy