A Hungarian singer ended up in the orchestra pit after the horse he was sitting on bolted mid-performance.

Zoltan Bereczky’s mount took off when he broke into song at a musical adaptation of Geza Gardonyi’s The Stars of Eger at the national theatre in Szeged, Hungary.

Producers had been worried that the horse, needed for a spectacular scene involving a sword fight on horseback, would be spooked by the fireworks that go off during the scene.

But, after weeks of training and rehearsals, it was Bereczky’s voice that upset the animal.

He said: “There was a fighting scene with fireworks and clashing swords and I was on horseback, and the horse was not bothered. But when I started singing – the horse suddenly took off.”

Audience members said the horse reared onto its hind legs, starting neighing wildly and then galloped around the stage out of control before jumping off the stage.

Bereczky said: “It jumped straight into the orchestra pit with me on its back.”

The orchestra managed to keep on playing and although Bereczky was thrown from the horse as it landed he scrambled back up on stage to carry on singing.

He was later treated for a sprained shoulder.

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