Academic degree, university position: DLA, associate professor, Head of Opera Programme
Studies:
1997: he graduated from the class of László Babarczy at the Stage Directing Department of the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest.
2006: he obtained his DLA degree at the University of Theatre and Film Arts. His dissertation entitled “Opera: Music/Man/Theatre” has been adapted to a textbook on the fundamentals of opera performance under the title Opera: A Closed World (Typotex Publishing House, 2008), and has made part of the curriculum as basic reading at several universities in Hungary.
Teaching activities:
1998–2003: he taught acting craft at the Department of Vocal and Opera Studies of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music as a teaching assistant; in 2009 he returned to the Liszt Academy, where he currently teaches stage acting as an associate professor, as well as directing opera exams and leading the Opera Programme.
1997–2011: he taught stage directing and contemporary theatre aesthetics with László Babarczy in the stage directing class of the University of Theatre and Film Arts.
Since 2011 he has taught theatre aesthetics at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church.
In the 2014/2015 academic year he is a guest professor at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts.
He has held workshops in the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt and in the Conservatorio di Musica "Luigi Cherubini" in Florence.
Other activities:
2008-2010: Literary director of the National Theatre of Szeged
Theatre-related works:
1997–2011: Director of the Budapest Chamber Theatre, directing his own stage adaptations as well as several premieres of contemporary works. He also worked at the Budapest Operetta Theatre, the Csiky Gergely Theatre of Kaposvár, the Petőfi Theatre of Sopron, the National Theatre of Szeged and the Csokonai Theatre of Debrecen. His theatre directions include Woolf’s Orlando, Spiró’s The Árpád Dynasty, Horváth’s Tales from the Vienna Woods and Dumas’ The Lady of the Camellias.
2008–2010: Literary director of the National Theatre of Szeged
2006–2010: Dramaturge of the Szeged Contemporary Dance Company, writing librettos and contributing to productions as co-director
Since 2010 he has specialized in the genre of the opera: he has participated in the making of several contemporary operas, has researched directorial opera acting, and directed operas at the Hungarian State Opera, the Erkel Theatre, the Solti Hall of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, the Opera House of Wroclaw and the Budapest Music Center.
He held an international workshop in Cluj-Napoca, and he is a professor at the composers workshop of the Eötvös Péter Foundation in Budapest.
His Hoffmann2012.com staged in the Theater am Pfalzbau, Ludwigshafen, won the Papageno Award of the Reiman Academy of Linz for the best German young theatre production, and two child actors of the performance were also awarded.
Director of major musical performances and opera exams:
Bizet–Mérimée: Carmen (coproduction of the Móricz Zsigmond Theatre of Nyíregyháza and the Liszt Academy, 2000)
Gluck: Armide – cross-section (Liszt Academy, 2000, 2010)
Péter Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams (Budapest Spring Festival, Thália Theatre, 2001, 2004)
András Almási-Tóth–Szilárd Borbély–Gergely Vajda: The Golem (operetta, Budapest Operetta Theatre, 2002)
Jenő Huszka: Baroness Lili (operetta, Petőfi Theatre of Sopron, 2002)
Music Hall-Kulka-Csákányi Evening (József Attila Theatre, 2002)
Lajos Kassák-Ágnes Kamondy: Tin Soldiers (puppet opera, Budapest Puppet Theatre, 2001)
Stravinsky: L'histoire du soldat (Budapest Spring Festival, 2003, Ludwigshafen, 2009, National Theatre of Szeged, 2010)
Schubertiada – full-day event series (director-producer, Budapest Spring Festival, 2003)
That Moment (Chanson evening, Art Mill, Szentendre, 2004)
Moliére-Lully: The Middle-Class Gentleman (Csokonai Theatre of Debrecen, 2004)
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro (National Theatre of Miskolc, 2004)
Händel: Rinaldo (Budafest Summer Opera Festival, Budapest, 2007)
Máté Bella: Who the Fxxk is Lady Domina? (musical, Ódry Stage, 2009)
Gilbert–Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance (operetta, National Theatre of Szeged, 2009)
Péter Eötvös: Radames (chamber opera, Bartók Festival Szombathely, 2009, Contemporary Music Days, Budapest, 2010)
Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress – Gazzaniga: Don Giovanni – cross-section (Liszt Academy, 2009)
Bellini: Romeo and Juliet – Donizetti: Viva la Mamma! – cross-section (Liszt Academy, 2010)
Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel – cross-section (Liszt Academy, 2010)
Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – cross-section (Liszt Academy, 2011)
Purcell: The Fairy Queen (Liszt Academy, 2011), Sing Dein' Song (Theater am Pfalzbau, Ludwigshafen, 2011)
Mozart: Idomeneo / The Mercy of Titus – cross-section (Liszt Academy, 2012)
Miklós Csemiczky: The Bremen Town Musicians (Millenáris Theatre, 2012)
Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen – cross-section (Liszt Academy, 2012)
Máté Bella: The Awakening of Spring (premiere, 2012)
Broken Dreams (staged concert, Palace of Arts, 2012)
Cavalli: Callisto (Liszt Academy, 2013)
Árpád Solti: La Violetta (Liszt Academy, 2013)
Menotti: The Telephone (Hungarian State Opera, 2013)
R&L, or the Empire of Magicians (Latinovits Theatre of Budaörs, 2013)
Hoffmann2012.com (Theater am Pfalzbau, Ludwigshafen, 2012-13)
Mozart: The Magic Flute (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Solti Hall, 2013)
Opera Sketches (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, 2013)
Maxwell–Davies: 8 Songs for a Mad King / Benjamin: Into the Little Hill (Budapest Spring Festival, Budapest Music Center, 2014)
Dohnányi: The Tenor (Hungarian State Opera, Erkel Theatre, 2014)
Eötvös: Angels in America (Opera Wroclawska, 2014)
Eötvös: Lady Sarashina (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Solti Hall, 2014)
Photoshop – Rossini Sitcom (Liszt Academy, 2015)
Goldmark: Ein Wintermärchen (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, 2015)
Tchaikovsky: Cherevichki/Iolanta (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, 2016)
Purcell: The Fairy Queen (Hungarian State Opera House, 2016)
Cesti: Orontes (Budapest Spring Festival, Liszt Academy, 2016)
Marschner: Der Vampyr (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, 2017)
Szabolcs Mátyássy: Scaevola (Bartók Festival, Miskolc, 2016)
Moreover, he has directed numerous prosaic performances at theatres in Budapest and other cities of Hungary (Csiky Gergely Theatre of Kaposvár, Móricz Zsigmond Theatre of Nyíregyháza, Budapest Chamber Theatre, National Theatre of Szeged).
Besides his activity as a director, he has worked as a dramaturge of more than 30 prosaic, musical and dance performances. He wrote librettos for the opera “The Awakening of Spring” by Máté Bella and for the opera “Barbie Blue” by Gergely Vajda. He published two drama plays so far. In 2006 he was awarded the István Örkény Drama Writing Scholarship.
Awards and honors:
2010: László Vámos Award
2017: Knight Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit