Around the Music Festival

Following the parliamentary elections held on the 12th, a change of government is now certain in Hungary for the first time in 16 years. Austrian media outlets and others are reporting that the name of internationally renowned soprano singer Andrea Rost has suddenly emerged as a candidate for the new Minister of Culture.

Rost has been an early supporter of Péter Magyar, leader of the center-right new opposition party “Tisza – Respect and Freedom,” which won the election. She herself was also elected to parliament in the elections.

Rost is 63 years old and was born in Budapest, the capital city. She studied at the Liszt Academy of Music before making her debut. In 1991 she became a member of the Vienna State Opera.

In 1994 she achieved great success as Gilda in Rigoletto at La Scala in Milan, conducted by Riccardo Muti, and in 1995 she achieved great success as Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute at the opening performance of the season at La Scala, bringing her into the spotlight.

From then on, she dominated major opera houses around the world. At the Salzburg Festival, she made numerous appearances in productions such as Richard Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten” under the baton of Georg Solti, Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea” under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” under the baton of Claudio Abbado, establishing her international fame.

PHOTO：Korponai Tamás