How far do we let other people into our minds, our soul, and our past? And what happens if someone pushes their way into our consciousness even though we haven't let them in? Béla Bartók and Béla Balázs's world-famous opera offers insight into the various layers and stages of the relationship between men and women, while János Vajda's work based on the famous novella by Thomas Mann depicts the effects of blind extremism and mass hypnosis. Two brilliant 20th century one-act operas in one evening: both Hungarian, and both about the deepest functioning of the human mind and how the psyche can be influenced.

János Vajda

Mario and the Magician

"You do what you like. Or is it possible you have ever not done what you liked – or even, maybe, what you didn't like?" The atmosphere is an unpleasant one in this memory of Torre de Venere. The audience members at an Italian resort town fall, against their will, under the influence of a remarkable magician – with the exception of one person.

"Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil," said Thomas Mann, whose highly influential novel Mario and the Magician János Vajda use as the basis for his opera of the same name, one of the most successful and affecting works in modern Hungarian opera history. The work will be shown at the Opera House in a production directed by Péter Galambos, with Krisztián Cser in the principal role.

Béla Bartók

Bluebeard's Castle

Bartók's sole opera provides a glimpse, by way of seven symbolic doors, into the secrets of the human soul. The enigmatic work follows the evolution of the relationship between two people and the different stages of getting to know each other and growing apart refracted allegorically through symbols with many meanings. All the while, it suggests that it is not the drama of a man and a woman unfolding before the viewer's eyes, but rather a man's drama and a woman's drama. As director Péter Galambos put it at the time of the 2013 premiere: “The deeper they probe into understanding their own demons, the more uncertain they become. Their curiosity, however, is still greater than their fear. Confronting our demons – no matter how painful it may be – leads to an understanding of ourselves.”