LÉO DELIBES: JEAN DE NIVELLE – Concert-format opera performance in three acts, with one intermission, in French
When
Wednesday, 14 January 2026
From pm 7until approximately pm 10
Where
Müpa – Béla Bartók National Concert Hall,
Budapest
Tickets
HUF 12,500, HUF 10,000, HUF 8,500, HUF 7,500, HUF 5,500
Buy ticket


LÉO DELIBES: JEAN DE NIVELLE – Concert-format opera performance in three acts, with one intermission, in French

Opera season ticket 2

György Vashegyi conductor

LÉO DELIBES: JEAN DE NIVELLE
Concert-format opera performance in three acts, with one intermission, in French

Jean de Nivelle Cyrille Dubois
Arlette Mélissa Petit
Simone Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur
Diane Judith van Wanroij
Le Comte de Charolais Tassis Christoyannis
Malicorne François Rougier
Beautreillis Jean-Philippe Mc Clish
Le Page Isolin Juliette Mey
Saladin / Un Héraut / Un Vieillard Adrien Fournaison
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos)

Conductor: György Vashegyi

Co-production of the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Palazzetto Bru Zane.
A recording will be made as part of the “Opéra français” series – and released on the Bru Zane Label. The score was published by Heugel and revised by the Palazzetto Bru Zane.

It is an important objective of the Hungarian National Philharmonic’s Opera season ticket to interpret not only popular hits of the genre, but also to present the audience with a rare and valuable work worth discovering from time to time. For the 2025/2026 season, the historically themed opera Jean de Nivelle, completed in 1880 by the composer of Coppélia and Lakmé Léo Delibes, will revealed to the Müpa Budapest audience in a concert-format performance conducted by György Vashegyi and with an international cast comprising singing talent exclusively from outside Hungary. The title role will be portrayed by Cyrille Dubois, while the performance is a co-production by the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Palazzetto Bru Zane.

Léo Delibes, the French romantic contemporary of the German romantic Brahms was born in 1836 and passed away in 1891. A student of the Conservatoire de Paris under Adolphe Adam, he was most in his element as a composer of works of musical theatre. He was productive in the genres of both ballet and opera, with three works to his name in the former and five in the latter, and an immortal audience favourite in each: Coppélia (1870) and Lakmé (1883).

His three-act opera Jean de Nivelle, which was written between the two in 1880 and tells the story of a 15th century French historical figure, was successful at the time of its premiere but yearns to be rediscovered today. Under the baton of György Vashegyi, the Kossuth Prize-winning chief music director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic, it will be heard here in a concert-format performance in French with an international cast featuring the superb French tenor Cyrille Dubois in the title role. As was the case with many previous efforts to plug gaps in the repertoire, the production is the result of a collaboration between the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Palazzetto Bru Zane.

BRU-ZANE.COM

*****

The Hungarian National Philharmonic’s audience is long accustomed to having an Opera subscription on offer each new season. It was during Zoltán Kocsis’s tenure as chief music director that the orchestra and choir began presenting works for the musical stage, an endeavor also essential to György Vashegyi’s programming concept. All three opera productions slated for the 2025/26 season will be performed in concert format. The works – one Italian, the others French and Russian – all date from the 19th century. Verdi’s Nabucco and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin are both immortal opera favourites, while the three-act Jean de Nivelle, by Léo Delibes, serves to continue the tradition of recent years of introducing new discoveries from music history.

Nabucco was composed in the 1840s, with Onegin and Jean de Nivelle premiering a few years apart some decades later, in 1878 and 1880, respectively. Successful in its time but hardly known today, the latter tells the story of a French historical figure from the 15th century.  Adding to the appeal of these programmes on the Opera season ticket are the renowned star singers arriving from abroad to tackle the principal roles – such as the Mongolian Amartüvshin Enkhbat, France’s Cyrille Dubois and the Russian Alexey Markov, just to name those taking on the three title characters – with the production of Jean de Nivelle furthermore keeping up the tradition of performing these special French works by employing a cast of soloists comprised exclusively of noted international artists.

Conducting the Delibes will be György Vashegyi, with the excellent Italian musician Andrea Battistoni selected to take the helm for Nabucco and Onegin entrusted to one of Hungary’s most experienced opera conductors, János Kovács.

 

 

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