Jules MASSENET: La Vierge (The Virgin) – Hungarian premiere
oratorio in four scenes, with one intermission, in French

La Vierge Aude Extrémo

Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos)
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: György Vashegyi

The last concert of the Pászti season ticket – like so many concerts of the 2025/2026 season – once again promises some exciting rarities. The Hungarian National Choir and Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra will present the Hungarian première, with the solo sung by the world-famous French mezzo-soprano Aude Extrémo, of the oratorio La Vierge (The Virgin) by the composer of Manon and Werther, Jules Massenet. First performed in 1880 the work follows the life of Mary from the Annunciation through the wedding at Cana to Good Friday and the Assumption. The French-language performance will be conducted by the general music director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic, György Vashegyi, who takes a keen interest in the neglected masterpieces of French music.

Rarely heard gems worthy of discovery feature prominently on the calendar of the Hungarian National Philharmonic’s 2025/2026 season. In this spirit, there will be special emphasis on a handful of intriguing of works of French Romanticism, including the oratorio entitled La Vierge (The Virgin) by Jules Massenet (1842–1912), who is best known for his highly successful operas Manon and Werther. He composed the piece aged 38 and it was first heard by the audience of the Paris Opera in May 1880. The “sacred legend”, as the genre is more precisely designated, narrates the life of Mary from the Annunciation and the Wedding at Cana to Good Friday and the Assumption. At the fourth concert of the Pászti season ticket, the work, a Hungarian première, is to be heard in French in four scenes with one intermission. Joining the Hungarian National Choir and Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the soloist will be the celebrated French mezzo-soprano Aude Extrémo. The conductor for the evening is György Vashegyi, who, in addition to his profound understanding of early music, has long championed overlooked gems of French music.

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Named after the founder and former leader of the Hungarian State Choir, the predecessor of the National Choir, the Pászti season ticket unsurprisingly offers a rich bounty of vocal music: early music and contemporary pieces, as well as a cappella works and oratorical masterpieces, all courtesy of composers from both Hungary and elsewhere.

Conducting the first concert will be Mátyás Antal, who headed the Hungarian National Choir for a quarter of a century and is turning 80 this year. After appropriately kicking off the occasion with Haydn’s 80th symphony, he will then go on to lead the ensemble in two legendary masterpieces: Bartók’s Cantata Profana and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. For the second concert, current choirmaster Csaba Somos invites music lovers on a journey through Italy with works (where either the composer or the theme is Italian) by Bruno Bettinelli, Pietro Clausetti, Morten Lauridsen, Jonathan Dove, Willem Jeths and Tamás Beischer-Matyó.

The third concert commemorates yet another birthday, this time that of the Hungarian National Choir itself, which to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its founding will perform – again with Somos wielding the baton – works by Brahms and Mendelssohn: the former’s Schicksalslied (“Song of Destiny”) and the latter’s anthem Hör’ mein Bitten and the massive but rarely heard Lobgesang, the “Song of Praise” catalogued as Mendelssohn’s second symphony. The soloists for this evening will be Polina Pasztircsák, Lilla Horti and Szabolcs Brickner.

The final event in the subscription will be truly sensational. The 2025/2026 season of the Hungarian National Philharmonic features several remarkable events, one of which is Massenet’s oratorio La Vierge, now being presented for the first time ever in Hungary, with György Vashegyi on the podium. Taking the stage to sing the title role will be the outstanding French mezzo-soprano Aude Extremo.