“On 29 August, at Esterházy Castle in Fertőd, on Hungarian territory, the Haydneum Foundation – the Hungarian Centre for Early Music – presented a concert version of Armida, Haydn’s penultimate opera, and the last one created in the country stronghold of the prince’s family, of which the composer was employed for nearly thirty years. “

“The tenor Zoltán Megyesi works wonders as Rinaldo, with the right amount of gallantry in the heroic arias, the equally necessary virtuosity, and above all, the expressiveness that makes the accompaniment and the aria with which he abandons Armida one of the great moments of the evening. “

“There was a lot of talk about spirit in this concert, where the ghosts of the past, the genius of the composers, and the musical intelligence of the performers rubbed shoulders, creating bridges from one century to the next, with no temporal flaw to separate them.”

“For its third edition, the Haydneum Festival is presenting Armida (by Haydn, of course) at the Esterházy Palace in Fertőd, Hungary, served by a cast that represents it with all the required dedication, to do it full justice.”

“Beim Festival Haydneum, das jetzt an vier Tagen in Budapest und im Schloss Esterháza bei Fertőd, unweit des Neusiedler Sees stattfand, fühlte man sich unwillkürlich an die Tradition groẞer Gedanken in Ungarn erinnert.”