Magyar Állami Népi Együttes: Kivirágzott keresztfája / BARTÓK TAVASZ 2023

Performed by: dancers and orchestra of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble

Featuring: Júlia Kubinyi, Eszter Pál, Milán Hetényi – voice, Gábor Illés  – koboz, Gábor Gera – accordion, Domonkos Farkas – organ, Gergely Okos – ütőgardon, drums, Saint Ephraim Male Choir (artistic directors: Tamás Bubnó, Lőrinc Bubnó), Concert Ensemble of Budapesti Énekes Iskola (artistic directors: Tamás Bubnó, János Mezei), students of the Deák Diák Musical Primary and Grammar School, students of the Hungarian Dance Academy

Music director: István Szalonna Pál

Music editors: Tamás Bubnó, Attila Gera, Milán Hetényi, Attila Mihó, István Szalonna Pál

Ethnography consultant: János Vas

Production design: György Árvai

Animation: Zsolt Korai

Traditional costumes consultants: Krisztina Palik, Edit Szűcs, Borbála Winklerné Petri-Kiss 

Costumes: Edit Szűcs

Sound: Péter Szabó

Lighting: Ákos Gimpel

Assistants to the choreographers: Beatrix Borbély, Andrea Lévay

Choreographers: György Ágfalvi, Máté Farkas, Klára Hetényi-Kulcsár, Zsolt Juhász, Gábor Mihályi

Choreographer, director: Gábor Mihályi

The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble’s dance production for the Easter holiday relies as much on the liturgies of the different denominations as on the ancient peasant customs and songs of regions in the Carpathian Basin that lie at great distances from each other. The respective Easter rituals of the Székely Land, the Rábaköz, former Upper Hungary and the south of the Great Hungarian Plain – both Christian and pagan – are linked in a unified dramatic form.

The exciting musical fabric of the performance consists not only of folk songs, religious folk tunes and dance music, but also the Easter-themed songs of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as archaic folk prayers. Most of the latter are rooted in the distant past, the time before the conversion to Christianity.

This performance of the Bartók Spring was presented by Müpa Budapest as a joint event with Hungarian Heritage House – Hungarian State Folk Ensemble.