"I DON'T WANT TO" AN ÁGNES NEMES NAGY PERFORMANCE ARRIVING TO CLUJ

On the evening of Saturday, January 14, the highly successful performance of Nem akarok - Ágnes Nagy Nemes 100 will arrive to Cluj. paying tribute to the life and work of the Kossuth and Baumgarten Prize-winning poet, essayist and literary translator, celebrating the centenary of her birth last year. The production will be presented from 7 pm in the Studio.

Ágnes Nemes Nagy, Kossuth Prize-winning poet, essayist, literary translator and teacher, a key figure in 20th century Hungarian literature, was born 100 years ago. In 2022, the Petőfi Cultural Agency and the Petőfi Literary Museum proclaimed a centenary year in honour of the 100th anniversary of her birth, and in the framework of this special year, a concert theatre performance entitled Nem akarok (I Don't Want to), which presents the life of Ágnes Nagy Nemes, was staged by director and actor Miklós Vecsei H. who is well known to Cluj audiences from the production of Hamlet. The composer of the production is Erik Tempfli, Artisjus Prize-winning pianist, the singer is Bori Hegedűs, who impersonates Ágnes Nemes Nagy, and the narrator and editor is literary critic Anna Juhász.

Nem akarok is an intimate life's work composed for four voices, where not only a defining literary career of the 20th century is brought to life, but also friendships, poems, literary works and human decisions are explored, accompanied by our favourite Ágnes Nemes Nagy poems.

"We feel that there is a stake in this performance, a stake in feeling the wings of poetry, as the poet, who was born 100 years ago, put it. Ágnes Nemes Nagy also said, and confessed, that throughout her life, and even in her experience as a poet, what has always surprised her most is how close the small and the great, the mundane and the extraordinary, are. It was this that set us on a creative journey, and it was in this light that we read her oeuvre, and learned about family, struggle, peace and war. What emerged was a clear and elevated oeuvre in four voices. Often poignant, often ordinary. Like poetry itself", said Anna Juhász, one of the main organisers of the Ágnes Nagy Nemes centenary.

Since its premiere in autumn, Nem akarok has been presented in Rome, Brussels, Budapest and Hungary, and was one of the first to come to Romania - on 12 December in Miercurea Ciuc and on 13 December in Odorheiu Secuiesc.

Tickets for the Studio of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj have sold out in a few days, therefore a sold out hall is awaiting the performers.

Additional literary programmes and events organised by the Petőfi Cultural Agency are available throughout the year:

Unconventional literature classes, the Literary Caravan series featuring contemporary writers and musicians, and the Petőfi performance Twenty-six Years, which will be ready in the spring and will present the emotional, human side and love life of poet Sándor Petőfi, born 200 years ago.