The issue of the Opera House's future has been raised every four years since the election of 2002, indicating that it is still considered an important institution. But not very much, because if it was, it would have been worth waiting to see what the director-general, Miklós Locsmándi, and chief musical director, György Győriványi Ráth,  were capable of, but instead the minister of culture at the time, Gábor Görgey, immediately placed other people in these leading positions.

Passions within the house abated somewhat with the arrival of Miklós Szinetár and Emil Petrovics, yet the institutional reform and any obvious improvement in quality that were expected by the Orbán government when it raised the theatre's annual budget support in 2001 from 2.3 billion to 6.3 billion forints was not realised. The politics of the past brought a halt to the process although the theatre - similarly to the National Philharmonics - still had the opportunity in 2001 to again receive support from the state. From that point on the money has decreased each year and this year it was 4.7 billion so presumably it will be even less in the future, although there will be no fewer problems.

The jovial gentleman dismisses a colleague

At the same time the seeds of development have been visible in recent years - primarily thanks to the conductor, Ádám Fischer, also taking on a role in the Budapest opera house, and the fact that Balázs Kovalik, who, as a director and arts manager until the end of June 2010, did his utmost to cut out a new path for the institution. His recent work can be both criticised and disliked but it is indisputable that his often shocking, although always carefully thought out stage adaptations made waves.

Nevertheless, many people think that what is really behind Lajos Vass not extending Kovalik's contract is no more that an attempt to save his own job. In the case of Vass, it cannot easily be discounted as a mitigating factor that as state secretary for the ministry of culture between 2002 and 2006 he played a part in the dismissal of the Locsmándi-Győriványi and then the Árpád Jutocsa Hegyi - Győriványi duos, and in 2006, as the ministerial commissioner of the State Opera House, he ran for the mayor's seat in Szolnok as a socialist candidate. He failed in this venture, so all he had left was the Opera House. Or was he all the opera house had left: a jovial, adaptable, understanding boss whose "door is always open to everybody".

After all of this it is not surprising that the new cultural leadership can do without the services of Lajos Vass. A new man is finally needed for a new programme, i.e. tasks now in a state of suspension for years, such as changes in regard to structural reform, programme restructuring, financing and sponsoring. (Nota bene: Kovalik was given a temporary commission because the status of the arts director is not included in the theatre's organisational and operational rules, the amendment of which has been a constant issue of negotiations with the ministry though, but not approved yet.)

Made in Austria?

Although time is pressing, there is still no concrete information on the managerial positions and the tight-lipped statements issued by the state secretary of the mega ministry responsible for culture merely revealed that "negotiations are in process with various personalities of the opera world on possible cooperation". However, real decisions will only be made when Géza Szőcs can exercise full authority over his portfolio as the state secretary for health, Miklós Szócska, is in the fortunate position to do so.

It is no wonder that the news spread like fire in June about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's meeting in Vienna with Ioan Holender, who resigned from his position as director of the Staatsoper, the result of the talks being an agreement for the 75-year-old professional to take over the management of the opera house in Budapest. According to the continuing gossip he would bring along the choreographer, Gyula Harangozó, who has been the ballet director of the Viennese opera until now, and who would replace Gábor Keveházi as the head of the Hungarian national ballet. "There is no question of my being a resident CEO in Budapest," refuted Holender. At the meantime, Austrian radio announced that the Hungarian party had indicated that it would be open to "closer cooperation" than what they have at present, but these were all "initial ideas". The Viennese ex-director is presently a consultant to the Budapest opera as he is in Munich and New York.   

There is major uncertainty in relation to Holender's future status, although professionals well versed in the international opera scene have told Heti Válasz that what is certain is that the master needs to be one of the key figures in the necessary restructuring, and added that clear and long-term government decisions must be made about personnel issues since this is the only way of ensuring the Opera House will not take a different course every two or three years. 

Obstacles

One of the biggest challenges, i.e. whether the theatre repertory system can be kept, remains unchanged. Many believe it can, but novelty is unavoidable, otherwise the international theatre scene will leave us standing.

Therefore, neither the innovative approach, nor can productions that attract an interest in the wider world can be renoumced. Interesting musical focal points and far more premieres are needed, including daring experimentation, even if they are more costly than the old, tried and trusted, although often antiquated shows. What should certainly be changed is the prevailing view within the troupe according to which problems caused by poor quality directions, and burnt out singers can be redressed through additional rehearsals.

Furthermore, a definition is needed of what we classify as a Hungarian opera: adapting works by Hungarian authors to stage, the whole of the Hungarian opera, or opera productions with Hungarian singers? The theatrical company would obviously vote for the latter, while the professionals would cast their vote for the whole of the Hungarian opera. However, if the latter view wins, alongside the State Opera House, opportunities will have to be given to the long-neglected theatres outside Budapest, and for the Erkel Theatre, which has been closed since 2007, thus its future continues to be uncertain.

However, the biggest step would be to convert the Opera House into a business association. As a budgetary institution it appears to have no hope of change, and it would be a huge step forward if the decision-makers' hands were not be tied by regulations in regard to artists employed as public servants. Since at the moment the opera house is tailoring its plays to public servants there is no special problem. However, the system does not tolerate guest artists invited for example for 17^th- century or contemporary pieces saying: "we do not need these" or "there is no demand for this".

Ádám Fischer has said many times that with a lot of money standards could be improved even if the present structure of the theatrical company was to be maintained. However, this is contradicted by the fact that the injection of cash in 2001 did not result in an increase in artistic standards. On the contrary, the distribution of the surplus funds consolidated the existing conditions, wastefulness and the fact that the majority of the directions of today's productions are not even remotely close to international standards.

Resolved and dictatorial

Ioan Holender was born in 1935 in Temesvár (now Oradea, Romania) into a Jewish family. He was trained to be a mechanical engineer but because he participated in the students' movement of 1956 he was barred from every Romanian university, so he worked as a tennis coach. In 1959 he moved to Vienna, where he continued to make a living from being a coach, after which he became an assistant director in the Volksopera. In 1962 he graduated as a singer and in 1966 he was employed by the Starka theatre agency, of which he later became the owner. In 1988 Eberhard Wächter proposed that he and Holender jointly manage the Staatsoper and the Volksoper, then after Wächter's death (1992) Holender managed both houses. (He left the Volksoper in 1997.)

The director, known for his resolve and dictatorial methods, had his mandate extended three times, although he recently indicated that he does not wish to continue to manage the institution after his present contract expires in 2010. He served as the head of the Viennese Staatsoper (founded in 1869) for 18 years and thus longer than anybody else. In addition to the theatre coming into world prominence under his management, Holender consolidated his status as an international authority by discovering such singers as Natalie Dessay, Angela Gheorghiu and Bryn Terfel, and it was him who set the Hungarian soprano, Andrea Rost, upon her world conquering career.