The 3 October 2020 Masquerade featured the internationally renowned coloratura soprano Erika Miklósa. Her online aria recital was available live on Facebook and Origo.hu.
Erika Miklósa made her debut at the Erkel Theatre in the role of Papagena in 1990 at the the tender age of 20, making her the youngest member in the history of the Opera. In the following three decades she turned out to be one of the most popular and acclaimed opera singer not only in Hungary but all around the world, from Tokyo to New York. She was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 2012, and she became a member of the Company of Immortals in 2020. In the Masquerade programme, she maked a selection of her coloratura roles, and together with her guest, the Chamber Singer Anatoly Fokanov they evoked their roles from Rigoletto sung by the two of them for many years on stage. The surprise guest Lusine Sahakyan made her debut at the Opera on this evening. The recital was directed by Erika Tóth, narrated by Dániel Mona, featured on the piano was Sámuel Csaba Tóth.
Programme:
Meyerbeer: Dinorah – Shadow Song ("Ombre légère")
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermnoor – Lucia's aria from Act 1 ("Regnava nel silenzio")
J. Strauss II: Die Fledermaus – Adele's aria from Act 2 ("Mein Herr Marquis")
Debussy: Arabesque No. 1 – performed by Sámuel Csaba Tóth
Tchaikovsky: The Queen of Spades – Tomsky's Ballad from Act 1 – performed by Anatoly Fokanov
Bizet: Carmen – Habanera – performed by Lusine Sahakyan
Verdi: Un ballo in maschera – Oscar's aria from Act 3 ("Saper vorreste")
Verdi: Rigoletto – Rigoletto and Gilda's duet ("Mio padre! Dio! mia Gilda!") – featuring Anatoly Fokanov
The performance can be seen HERE.
Photo by Edina Ligeti