On 15 January 2021, soprano Anikó Bakonyi and bass-baritone Csaba Sándor made a selection of their favourite arias from Mozart to Wagner on the Sándor Hevesi Stage of the Eiffel Art Studios. Their recital was streamed from 8:00 p.m. on Facebook and Origo.hu.
Born in Budapest, Anikó Bakonyi graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1997 after studying under Éva Andor and Zsolt Bende. She then went on to continue her training as a soloist in Vienna and Munich as well. She has appeared at several Hungarian venues, the Wiener Staatsoper, Verona's Teatro Filharmonic and Düsseldorf's Deutsche Oper am Rhein. In January 2005, she got the chance to sing the role of Donna Anna in the International Don Giovanni Singing Competition in Verona's Teatro Lirico. She made her debut at the Hungarian State Opera in 2005 as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, and she has been appearing in both the Opera House and the Erkel Theatre regularly ever since, where she can frequently be seen in operas by Mozart, Verdi and Puccini. She also sang the title role of Aida at the Hungarian State Opera's guest appearances in China in 2013.
Born in the Transylvanian town of Csíkszentsimon (Sânsimion), Csaba Sándor started his music education in Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc) before enrolling at the University of Nagyvárad (Oradea), and he also trained with Éva Marton at Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy of Music. He earned his master’s degree from the Gheorghe Dima Academy of Music in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) in 2014. He joined the Kolozsvár Hungarian Opera as a soloist in 2013 and has portrayed several important roles here. He made his Hungarian State Opera début in 2015 as Masetto in Don Diovanni, singing alongside Erwin Schrott. Since then, he has appeared there in many operas by Meyerbeer, Puccini, Kodály and Erkel as well as participated in world premieres of pieces by contemporary composers including Gábor Péter Mezei, Zsófia Tallér and György Selmeczi. He also took part in different tours of the institute, and sang the role of Petur bán in a guest performance of Bánk Bán (The Viceroy Bánk) in Korea.
Artistic directors of the evening: Judit Niklai and Mária Anna Kovács
Hosted by Szilveszter Ókovács
Pianist: László Bartal
Programme:
Puccini: Edgar – Fidelia's aria from Act 3 ("Addio, mio dolce amor") – Anikó Bakonyi
Mozart: Don Giovanni – Don Giovanni's serenade from Act 2 ("Deh vieni alla finestra") – Csaba Sándor
Verdi: Aida – Aida's Nile aria from Act 3 ("O patria mia") – Anikó Bakonyi
Bellini: I puritani – Riccardo's aria from Act 1 ("Ah! per sempre io ti perdei") – Csaba Sándor
Wagner: Tannhäuser – Elisabeth's aria from Act 2 ("Dich, teure Halle") – Anikó Bakonyi
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore – Belcore's aria from Act 1 ("Come Paride vezzoso") – Csaba Sándor
Puccini: La bohème – Mimì and Marcello's duet from Act 3 – Anikó Bakonyi and Csaba Sándor
The performance can be viewed HERE.
Photo by Péter Rákossy