István, a király ("Stephen, the King") is a Hungarian rock opera written by Levente Szörényi (music) and János Bródy (lyrics), based on the life of Saint Stephen of Hungary. The storyline was based on the play Ezredforduló (Turn of the Millennium) by Miklós Boldizsár, who co-wrote the libretto. The opera was first staged in 1983 on an open-air stage in Budapest. This first performance was also made into a 1984 film, directed by Gábor Koltay, and its music released on an album. The musical became a smash hit and is still very popular in Hungary and among Hungarian minorities in neighboring countries.

“István és Koppány,” the definitive Hungarian rock-opera by Levente Szörényi and János Bródy about the nation’s founding, returns for its 30th anniversary in a bold new staging by Róbert Alföldi. With unchanged music and lyrics, the spectacle unfolds on an 860 m², 21 m-high set, featuring 150 dancers and extras, a 60-piece symphony orchestra and a six-member rock band, all brought to life with redesigned décor and costumes.

In the open-air cinema-like scenery domestic rock bands get time for a short movie clip each, linked by an also short musical frame-play. Each of the altogether eighteen clips is a whole film etude playing with visual-lingual associations, film ideas, revealing the back-thought of the songs, and on the whole sometimes melancholicly, sometimes ironically the hopeless, sad picture of the era can be distinguished.