An Opera Gift Box for Christmas

 

With the imminent arrival of another Christmas in Nicosia it’s time to get in the spirit of the season and start celebrating. Nothing beats a hearty bout of singing and the Famagusta Gate has just the perfect evening planned as renowned Hungarian opera singer Borbála Keszei visits the capital tomorrow to present a unique recital entitled: An Opera Gift Box for Christmas.

Keszei, accompanied on piano by Anikó Pál will perform a concert of opera arias by Lehár, Mozart, Puccini, Schubert, Strauss and Verdi as well as songs by Bartók, Kodály and Liszt. Keszei is a well-known name among friends of the opera in Hungary as well as Austria and Italy. She finished her studies in the Debrecen Leo Weiner Conservatory in 1996. In 2000 she was invited to the Hungarian State Opera. Between 2003 and 2007 she was a member of the Staatsoper in Vienna, where her first role was Olga in Giordano’s Fedora, with Placido Domingo as her partner. Since then she has been a freelance singer in the Vienna Konzerthaus, in Teatro Verdi in Trieste and on other international stages. 

By her own definition she is a lyric coloratura. Besides Hungarian roles her repertoire encompasses works by Italian, Austrian and German composers. The most notable roles she has sung include those of Susanna (Mozart: (Le Nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Mozart: Don Giovanni), Adina (Donizetti: L’elisir d’amore), Gilda (Verdi: Rigoletto), Nannetta (Verdi: Falstaff), Lauretta (Puccini: Gianni Schicchi), Juliette (Gounod: Roméo et Juliette), Lulu (Berg: Lulu), Melinda (Erkel: Bánk bán) and Rosina (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia). Keszei also ventures out of the opera, singing roles in operettas and musicals such as the leading role in Fritzl Kreisler Sissy and in Bernstein’s West Side Story. 

 

Hungarian soprano, Borbála Keszei, accompanied on piano by Anikó Pál will perform a concert of opera arias. December 16. Famagusta Gate, Athina Avenue, Nicosia. 8pm. Free. Tel: 22-430877

 

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