👑🎶 “István, a király” Day – 40 Years of the Rock Opera
On October 14, 2023, to honor the 40th anniversary of the premiere of the legendary Hungarian rock opera “István, a király”, Crossroads Band organized a full-day celebration for the core of the San Francisco Bay Area Hungarian community.
The event was held at the future Hungarian Cultural Center, which at the time was still operating as the fellowship hall of the Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church.
The cultural program was created and led by Crossroads Band.
The Hungarian Reformed Church provided the food, drinks, and the venue.
The scouts organized the children’s activities, and Eszterlánc’s choreographer taught simple dances to a few of the rock opera’s songs for both the dance troupe and the enthusiastic audience.
🎬 Three versions of the rock opera were screened during the day:
– The original 1983 Királydomb open-air production
– The 2013 Dóm Square (Szeged) performance
– The 2023 Arena show from Papp László Sportaréna
🎞️ Additional clips highlighted how central the work is to Hungarian identity, even in California:
– A short excerpt from Réka Pigniczky’s documentary “Inkubátor”
– Scenes from the 2012 scout production in the SF Bay Area
– Footage from the 2019 joint performance by Silentium Valley, Valley Vocal, and Eszterlánc
– Crossroads Trio & Ábel Egyedi’s 2022 backyard show at the Orly Museum
– Crossroads Band & Gergő Szabó’s 2023 summer performance at Woodside Priory
📖 Gábor Magyari-Köpe, pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church, gave a talk about the historical and spiritual legacy of Saint Stephen. This was followed by a kids’ activity led by the scouts titled “Knights of King Stephen.”
🎤 One of the most anticipated moments of the day was a panel discussion moderated by Gyula Bencze, with Magdi Ordasi, Szilvi Gilbert, and Ernő Ordasi, who all performed as dancers in the original 1983 production. They shared behind-the-scenes stories about rehearsals, filming, artists, the rockers, and the cultural and political context of the time. A video recording of this talk is included below.
📽️ In the next block, Attila Egyedi gave a comparative presentation about the three main performances shown throughout the day, followed by an interactive Fantasy Casting game where the audience helped create an international dream cast.
🧠 A quiz hosted by Beáta Váncza tested attendees’ knowledge of the day’s content—with a special “István, a király” fridge magnet from the House of Hungarian Music as a prize.
🎸 The day wrapped up with a community singalong and jam session led by Crossroads Band, covering some of the opera’s most beloved songs.
🕺 Before the final screening, Ilka Dajka (KCSP folk dance choreographer for Eszterlánc) taught a short dance, which turned into a mini-choreography with participation from dancers and audience alike. We even had our own Koppány!
Attila, like many others, is a devoted István, a király fan.
This passion gave rise to several creations for the occasion:
– A website that presents all collected, processed, or newly created data in one place: http://ik40.crossroadsband.org/
– A mobile phone wallpaper
– Some basic data analysis — even though music and emotions are hard to measure
– And a slideshow app with lots of images and proper source attributions, which played on a monitor throughout the day: https://slideshow.ik40.crossroadsband.org/
🙏 Thank you to everyone who helped make this day possible—and to all who joined us to celebrate!
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Cast
English 
Hungarian