György Ránki adapted Hans Christian Andersen's beloved fairy tale The Emperor's New Clothes with the help of poet and lyricist Amy Károlyi. The story contains eternal wisdom: hypocrisy and fear are deadly poisons, and it is often children who are most likely to utter the truth. In this case, the truth is the fact that the king marching before his people in his 'new clothes', woven by the miracle-weavers, is in fact wearing nothing at all! Tyrants should tremble at the power of laughter: King Pomádé is ultimately swept from power by the guffaws of the people.
György Ránki, who demonstrated his outstanding sense of humour in other compositions as well, wrote this delightful children's opera to the ingenious libretto by Amy Károlyi. As a one-time student of Zoltán Kodály's, the composer freely used Hungarian folk songs as well as elements from pop and jazz music to form his colourful, eclectic style, an entertaining blend which captivates listeners with its virtuosity and gracefulness.
Not only is King Pomádé's New Clothes full of catchy music, it is also a riveting drama. This is something the audience of 8- to 14-year-olds is sure to be convinced of during the Opera Workshop series with the help of the production's director Attila Toronykőy, the cast of singers and the Discantus Choral Group, the Sinfonietta Erudita and conductor Péter Oberfrank.

Before the performance, between 9.45 and 10.30, we will be running a free (and playful) interactive session for children entitled Tune-up. We look forward to welcoming both school groups and individual school-age youngsters attending the subsequent performance. Please register via csip@mupa.hu by midnight on the Wednesday before the performance, specifying the number of participating children and their ages. The activity is recommended for children aged 6 and over, and will take place with a minimum of six children.

Presented by arrangement with the UMPA.

Age: 10-14 year
Presented by: Müpa Budapest