On 10 March 2021, mezzo-soprano Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz and baritone Zoltán Bátki Fazekas made a selection of their favourite arias by Händel, Mozart, Bellini, Erkel and Boieldieu. The performance was streamed from 8:00 p.m. on Facebook and Origo.hu.
Mezzo-soprano Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz commenced her studies in Szeged and then continued them at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, later going on to earn her third diploma at Musikhochschule Stuttgart in 1997. She won several international singing competitions and took part in master classes held by Walter Moore, Walter Berry, Ingrid Bjoner, Barbara Schlick and Júlia Hamari. She has been a member of the Hungarian State Opera since 1994, her repertoire ranges from Baroque operas to contemporary pieces, and she is also a regular soloist of oratorios. She has participated in several European concert tours and international opera productions, including La Cenerentola in Philadelphia.
Baritone Zoltán Bátki Fazekas graduated from the opera department of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1997. From 1991 to 2007 he was a member of the National Theatre of Szeged. He appeared at the Csokonai Theatre of Debrecen for eight seasons, and has made guest appearances at the national theatres of Pécs, Győr and Miskolc. He made his debut at the Hungarian State Opera in 1997 as Count Ceprano in Rigoletto. The core of his repertoire is made up from operas by Mozart and Donizetti as well as several 20th-century compositions. His major foreign engagements were in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Poland, and he has also appeared in the USA. In addition to the career of the Artisjus Award recipient opera singer, he is also a poet, songwriter and solo voice teacher.
Artistic director of the performance: Erika Tóth
Pianist: Klára Jean
Hosted by Melitta Gyüdi
Programme:
Händel: Giulio Cesare – Cleopatra's aria from Act 3 ("Piangerò la sorte mia") – Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte – Papageno's aria from Act 2 ("Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen wünscht Papageno sich") – Zoltán Bátki Fazekas
Boieldieu: Béniowski ou Les exilés du Kamchatka – Stefanov's aria ("Venez, venez") – Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz
Händel: The Harmonious Blacksmith from Suite in E Major, HWV 430 – Klára Jean
Mozart: Don Giovanni – Leporello's aria from Act 1 ("Madamina, il catalogo è questo") – Zoltán Bátki Fazekas
Bellini: Adelson e Salvini – Nelly's aria from Act 1 ("Dopo l'oscuro nembo") – Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz
Erkel: Bánk Bán (The Viceroy Bánk) – Petúr's drinking song from Act 1 ("Ha férfi lelkedet egy hölgyre föltevéd”) – Zoltán Bátki Fazekas
The performance can be viewed HERE.
Photo by Péter Rákossy