Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán and friends in Čižići: an evening of opera arias, duets and piano music
On 27 August 2026, Čižići on the island of Krk hosts a chamber concert of classical music led by Hungarian baritone Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán, a soloist of the Hungarian State Opera. According to an announcement published ahead of the event on the KRK sziget turista tippek portal, the concert begins at 20:00 in the common hall of the Kristina apartments at Čižići 307/a. Bátki-Fazekas will be joined by singers Ujvári Bernadett and Bátki-Fazekas Ilona and pianist Kiss Csaba. The published programme combines opera repertoire, solo songs, duets and a piano piece, with works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini, Antonín Dvořák, Giulio Caccini, Frédéric Chopin and Mitch Leigh. The available announcement does not specify the ticket price, whether reservations are required, the duration of the programme or the capacity of the hall, so these practical details cannot currently be confirmed reliably.
Concert on 27 August at 20:00 in Čižići
The date and venue of the performance correspond with the announcement published on 26 August, which explicitly states Thursday, 27 August 2026, a 20:00 start and the common hall of the Kristina apartment property in Čižići. This is a smaller indoor space rather than a large concert hall or outdoor stage, giving the programme a different setting from the usual opera productions in which Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán performs with an orchestra, choir and large ensemble. The announcement does not name the official organiser of the concert or provide a more detailed admission procedure, so it cannot be stated whether admission is free or whether tickets or seats are reserved in a particular way. No expected finishing time has been published either, so visitors planning transport after the concert should bear in mind that the duration of the evening has not been officially specified. Those travelling to Čižići from other parts of the island or the mainland and staying overnight can consult an overview of accommodation in Čižići and the Dobrinj area.
Čižići belongs to the Municipality of Dobrinj on the island of Krk. In its official presentation of the settlement, the Municipality of Dobrinj describes Čižići as a tourist village connected with Soline Bay and nearby locations in the Dobrinj area. Meline is nearby, while Rudine and Biserujka Cave are several kilometres away, placing Čižići in a recognisable tourist area of the island. For the concert itself, however, the precise address is the most important information: the common hall of the Kristina apartments, Čižići 307/a. Because the programme takes place in the evening and indoors, weather conditions have less influence on the performance itself than they do on many summer outdoor events, although the organiser has not published specific information about possible changes.
Four performers in a chamber programme
According to the published programme, Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán will be joined by Ujvári Bernadett, Bátki-Fazekas Ilona and Kiss Csaba. The announcement presents Ujvári Bernadett and Bátki-Fazekas Ilona as singers, while Kiss Csaba is listed as a pianist. No more detailed biographies of the other performers were published in this particular announcement, so it would not be justified to supplement it with unverified information or to link them with people who have similar names. Such caution is especially important with the name Kiss Csaba, which is relatively common in Hungarian cultural circles and may refer to several different artists. What has been reliably confirmed is the line-up for the evening: three vocal performers accompanied by piano, with a programme ranging from opera numbers and duets to solo compositions.
This line-up makes it possible to alternate between different formats during the same evening. The programme includes solo vocal numbers, duets and a piano composition, so it is not based on a single opera or a concert performance of an entire stage work. Instead, it is a selection of shorter musical pieces from different styles and periods. This is already evident from the list of composers: Mozart and Rossini represent the Classical and bel canto operatic repertoire, Puccini the later Italian operatic tradition, Dvořák the Central European Romantic sphere, while Chopin introduces a purely piano piece into the programme. Mitch Leigh provides a connection with 20th-century musical theatre, while two compositions credited to Bátki Zoltán also give the programme a more personal authorial dimension.
From Mozart and Rossini to Puccini and Chopin
The concert announcement provides a precise list of compositions expected to be performed. The programme covers very different musical characters, ranging from a theatrical song and lyrical solo repertoire to a comic duet and familiar operatic characters. The published order includes the following pieces:
- Mitch Leigh: Man of La Mancha - La Mancha's Song
- Antonín Dvořák: Cigánydal
- Bátki-Fazekas Ilona: Memories
- Gioachino Rossini: Macskaduett, or "Cat Duet" according to the title given in the announcement
- Giulio Caccini: Amarilli
- Frédéric Chopin: waltz in C-sharp minor
- Giacomo Puccini: Lauretta's aria
- Bátki Zoltán: Imádság
- Bátki Zoltán: Álomkép
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Papageno and Papagena duet
Mozart's concluding Papageno and Papagena duet directly refers to The Magic Flute, the opera in which the two characters form one of the best-known comic couples. The archive of the Hungarian State Opera confirms that Papageno and Papagena are characters in Mozart's opera, while the official biography of Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán lists Papageno among the roles he has performed at the company. This connection gives the Čižići programme additional professional context: the audience is not merely hearing a standalone popular duet, but a number from a work that the principal performer has already had in his own operatic repertoire. Puccini similarly holds an important place in his career, as the official website of the Hungarian State Opera lists among his roles Schaunard in La bohème and Ping in Turandot.
For the Puccini piece, the announcement states "Lauretta's aria" without giving an additional title for the composition. Lauretta is a character in Puccini's one-act opera Gianni Schicchi, and current repertoire materials from the Hungarian State Opera also list that role in the work. The concert announcement does not specifically state the name of the aria or the performer of each individual piece, so it would not be justified to assign every number to a particular singer in advance. The same applies to Rossini's "Cat Duet", Caccini's Amarilli and Dvořák's Cigánydal: it is confirmed that they have been announced as part of the programme, but the specific distribution of vocal parts has not been published. It therefore remains open exactly how the three singers will alternate during the evening.
Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán: a baritone with a long operatic career
The central name of the concert is Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán, whom the official website of the Hungarian State Opera identifies as a baritone and soloist. According to the Opera's biography, he graduated in 1997 from the opera department of the Liszt Academy of Music, where he studied with Valéria Berdál, Márta Ónody and Kálmán Gyimesi. From 1991 to 2007 he was a member of the National Theatre in Szeged, and for eight seasons he also performed at the Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen. He has appeared as a guest at national theatres in Pécs, Győr and Miskolc. The Hungarian State Opera states that he has sung at the company since 1998, meaning that his professional relationship with the Budapest Opera has already lasted almost three decades.
His repertoire spans several different stylistic periods and types of baritone roles. The official biography lists Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Papageno in The Magic Flute and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. In Rossini's La Cenerentola he performed as Dandini, in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love as Belcore, and in Lucia di Lammermoor as Enrico Ashton. His Puccini repertoire includes the roles of Schaunard in La bohème and Ping in Turandot, while in Bizet's Carmen he sang Dancairo. Such breadth helps explain why the Čižići programme is likewise not limited to a single composer or period.
The Opera's official biography also mentions his guest appearances in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Poland, as well as a performance in the United States. Alongside his operatic career, he writes poetry and composes music and works as a teacher of solo singing. The Hungarian State Opera also states that he received the Artisjus Award in 2002. These biographical facts are important for understanding the concert in Čižići because they show that this is a performer whose career is not limited to the opera stage but also includes creative and educational work. For that reason, the combination of well-known classical repertoire and compositions associated with the Bátki name appears logical in this programme, although the announcement provides no additional explanation of the origin or background of those works.
A more intimate format than the grand opera stage
By its nature, the concert in the common hall of the Kristina apartments is considerably more intimate than performances at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest. Instead of a large orchestra, choir, scenery and stage direction, the focus is on voices and piano. Such a format can bring the text, phrasing and communication between the performers closer to the audience, especially in duets. At the same time, the selection of shorter and stylistically varied pieces makes the programme more accessible to audiences who do not regularly attend full-length opera performances. This is not a simplified version of one opera, but an independently assembled concert programme.
Additional dramaturgical variety comes from the fact that operatic characters, solo songs, a piano waltz and a musical-theatre number all meet in the same evening. Chopin's waltz in C-sharp minor separates the vocal sections with a purely piano performance, while Mozart's Papageno-Papagena duet introduces recognisable theatrical cheerfulness. Rossini's "Cat Duet" also contributes a comic element, while Caccini's Amarilli and Dvořák's song shift the programme towards a more intimate lyrical expression. Puccini, meanwhile, brings the operatic melodicism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Without published details on the precise allocation of the pieces among the performers, the programme can be described as a shared evening by four musicians rather than a solo recital by a single singer.
Practical information for visitors
The key address for arrival is Čižići 307/a, and the event is scheduled to begin at 20:00 on Thursday, 27 August 2026. The event takes place in the common hall of the Kristina apartments. The announcement does not state an admission price, no ticket sales system has been published, nor does it explicitly state that admission is free. There is also no information on whether seats need to be reserved in advance, which is particularly important for smaller indoor venues with limited seating capacity. No estimated duration of the programme has been published either.
It is therefore safest to rely on the confirmed information: the date, time, address, performers and published repertoire. Everything concerning admission, reservations, seating arrangements or possible programme changes remains officially unclear in the available announcement. Visitors planning to travel from outside Čižići should allow sufficient time to locate the address before the start, particularly because the concert is not being held in a conventional public concert institution but in the common hall of an accommodation property. If additional instructions are published by the host or organiser, they should take precedence over earlier brief announcements.
The concert by Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán and friends thus brings classical music to a small island venue on 27 August, with a repertoire spanning several centuries of European musical tradition. The confirmed programme includes both operatic favourites and less expected selections, while the participation of a baritone with long-standing experience at the Hungarian State Opera gives the evening a clear professional framework. At the same time, this is a programme that differs from the large summer stages on the Adriatic: the emphasis is on direct contact between performers and audience, without a large production apparatus. For Čižići and the wider Dobrinj area, it is another cultural event at the end of August, but one featuring an unusual combination of international operatic experience and an intimate local chamber setting.
Sources:
- KRK sziget turista tippek - concert announcement, date, time, location, performers and published programme (link)
- Hungarian State Opera - official biography of Bátki-Fazekas Zoltán, career, roles and professional status (link)
- OperaDigitár of the Hungarian State Opera - information on Mozart's The Magic Flute and the characters Papageno and Papagena (link)
- Hungarian State Opera - repertoire calendar with information on Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and the role of Lauretta (link)
- Municipality of Dobrinj - official information about Čižići and the local context of the Dobrinj area (link)