In the 19 February 2021 Masquerade, mezzo-soprano Zsófia Kálnay and tenor Gergely Ujvári made a selection of their favourite arias from popular operas by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Erkel, Gounod and R. Strauss. The performance was streamed from 8:00 p.m. on Facebook and Origo.hu.
Budapest-born Zsófia Kálnay played the violin from the age of 7 for ten years and later took up singing at the age 18. In 2013 she obtained her diploma in classical singing as a student of Mária Temesi, Adrienne Csengery, Péter Oberfrank and Attila Toronykőy at the University of Szeged's Faculty of Music. In 2013, she took first place in the József Simándy Singing Competition in the BA category, along with being awarded five prestigious special prizes by the jury. She made her debut at the Hungarian State Opera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in 2014. She then went on to expand her repertoire with popular operas by Mozart, Mascagni, Wagner, Giordano, Bizet, Erkel and Kodály.
Born in the Transcarpathia region of Ukraine, Gergely Ujvári graduated from the University of Nyíregyháza as a teacher of German and drawing while pursuing his vocal studies privately. He started his career with the Hungarian State Opera Chorus in 2012 and later moved on to minor roles in operas by Verdi, Puccini and R. Strauss before singing the title role in John the Valiant in 2014. Since then, audiences could see him in important operatic roles and such rarities as compositions by Reimann, Rautavaara, Korngold and Wolf.
Artistic director of the performance: Erika Tóth
Pianist: Erika Dallos
Hosted by Melitta Gyüdi
Programme:
Gounod: Faust – Siebel's song from Act 3 ("Faites-lui mes aveux") – Zsófia Kálnay
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore – Nemorino's aria from Act 1 ("Quanta è bella") – Gergely Ujvári
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia – Rosina's cavatina from Act 1 ("Una voce poco fa") – Zsófia Kálnay
Verdi: La traviata – Alfredo's aria from Act 2 ("Lunge da lei") – Gergely Ujvári
R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos – The composer's aria ("Sein wir wiedet gut") – Zsófia Kálnay
Erkel: Hunyadi László – László's aria from Act 1 ("Van néhány nyugodt pillanat") – Gergely Ujvári
Brahms: Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2 – Erika Dallos
Rossini: La cenerentola – Cenerentola and Don Ramiro's duet from Act 1 ("Un soave non so che") – Zsófia Kálnay and Gergely Ujvári
The performance can be viewed HERE.
Photo by Valter Berecz