Iván Fischer is founder and Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C.

The partnership between Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra has proved to be one of the greatest success stories in the past 25 years of classical music. Fischer introduced several reforms, developed intense rehearsal methods for the musicians, emphasizing chamber music and creative work for each orchestra member.

Intense international touring and a series of acclaimed recordings for Philips Classics, later for Channel Classics have contributed to Iván Fischer's reputation as one of the world's most visionary and successful orchestra leaders. He has developed and introduced new types of concerts, "cocoa-concerts" for young children, "surprise" concerts where the programme is not announced, "one forint concerts" where he talks to the audience, open-air concerts in Budapest attracting tens of thousands of people, as well as concert opera performances applying scenic elements. He has founded several festivals, including a summer festival in Budapest on baroque music and the Budapest Mahlerfest which is also a forum for commissioning and presenting new music works.

As a guest conductor Fischer works with the finest symphony orchestras of the world. He has been invited to the Berlin Philharmonic more than ten times, he leads every year two weeks of programs with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra where his last, highly acclaimed project was in April 2009 Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8. Besides his contract with the NSO of Washington, he works regularly with leading US symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Earlier a regular guest in major opera houses of the world, and music director of Kent Opera and Lyon Opera, his opera productions often attract international attention. His Magic Flute in the Opera of Paris can be regularly seen on Mezzo Television, his Cosi fan tutte conducted at the 2006 Glyndebourne Festival is a huge success also on DVD. His numerous recordings have won several prestigious international prizes.

Iván Fischer studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest, continuing his education in Vienna where he was in Hans Swarowsky's conducting class. He also studied intensively early music and was for two years Nikolaus Harnoncourt's assistant. Recently he has been also active as a composer: his works have been performed in Holland, Hungary, Germany and Austria.

Mr. Fischer is a founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society, and Patron of the British Kodály Academy. He received the Golden Medal Award from the President of the Republic of Hungary, and the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum for his services to help international cultural relations. The French Government named him Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2006 he was honored with the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's most prestigious arts award. He is honorary citizen of Budapest and Ambassador of Hungarian Culture.

Zoltán Szõke:

Born in 1977 in Budapest, he started to play the horn at the age of eight. Between 1995 and 1998 he attended the Teachers' Training College of the Music Academy. In 1998 he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Music Academy where he learned with Ádám Friedrich. He obtained his diploma in 2002. In 1997 he became member of the orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera House, where in 1999 he was elected "Artist of the Year". A winner of several international competitions (Iserlohn, Porcia), he was winner of the BFO's Sándor Végh Competition in 2003.

Dávid Bereczky:

He was born in 1972 in Budapest. Following five years of violin studies in 1985 he started to play the horn. Having finished his secondary school studies at the Béla Bartók Music Secondary School, he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Music Academy of Budapest as a pupil of Imre Magyari and Ádám Friedrich. He obtained his diploma in 1996. Both in 1995 and in 1996 he won first prize at the Debrecen National Brass Competition. Between 1993 and 2001 he was member of the Matáv Symphony Orchestra. Since October 2001 he has been member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

András Szabó:

Born into a musical family in Budapest in 1978, his father was a tutor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music and his mother a cellist at the Hungarian State Opera House. Between 1992 and 1996 he was a student of Tibor Beleznay at the Béla Bartók Music Secondary School, and from 1997 a student at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, where his tutor was Tibor Tarjáni. He has won prizes at several international competitions (Munich, Markneukirchen, Beijing), and has taken part in master courses run by Peter Damm, Timothy Jones, Frank Lloyd, David Jolley, Eric Terwilliger and Eyal Vilner. He has been a member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra horn section since October 2001.

Zsombor Nagy :

Zsombor Nagy was born in 1973 in Budapest. Following four years in the Béla Bartók Secondary Music School, in 1992 he was admitted to the prestigious Franz Liszt Academy of Music of Budapest, where his professor was Ádám Friedrich. Still a student of the Academy, he played regularly in different symphonic orchestras of Hungary. In September 2001, following a succesful audition, he became member of the horn section of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

About the pieces:

From 1892 until 1895, Dvorák spent a great deal of time composing and teaching at New York’s National Conservatory of Music, and conducting at Carnegie Hall. It was here that he wrote “The American Suite”. Dvorák put a lot of his Czech nationalism into his American music, while still trying to capture an “American style.” The Suite, originally written for piano, features long flowing melodies that recur throughout the piece. The piece is full of truly passionate and dramatic moments. The first movement features the four-note melody that recurs throughout the piece. Dvorák then elaborates on and plays around with this melody to build up the listener’s suspense to the restatement of the original melody. The second movement is in ABA format. The first and last parts of the melody have a fire-like characteristic, while the B section is much more sweet in character. Finale, the last movement is where Dvorák really brings out his American style. The open harmonies and syncopated rhythms may remind the listener of an old fashioned American dance.

Robert Schumann (1810-56), the consummate Romantic, composed the Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra in 1849, during a time of great productivity and personal turmoil, as revolutions raged across Europe. Due to the prodigious technical demands of the piece, performances are rare. The opening movement is a lively sonata form that interjects sharp chords and fanfares among the main themes. The Romance is a lovely song form, leading without a break to the third movement romp and bravura finish.

Legends, Op.59, is a cycle of ten small-scale pieces by Antonín Dvoøák. The work was composed originally for piano duet, but later was arranged also for a reduced orchestra. Dvoøák dedicated the composition to the critic Eduard Hanslick, who praised the cycle with great enthusiasm. The piano duet version was printed by the German publishing house Simrock in 1881. In that same year Dvoøák arranged the cycle for orchestra. The orchestration differs in every individual piece. No.6. (along with Nos. 2 and 5) was premièred at a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic on 26 November, 1882.

“Life sequence at the banks of the Rhine” – wrote Schumann to the scores of his third (but in reality the second) symphony. The poetic, beautiful work rich in folklore has five movements and is a salute for Germany of the good old days, evokes the legends and landscapes around the Rhine in the sprit of romanticism. Schumann’s biographer, Joseph von Wasielewski writes about the symphony: “When Schumann told me he has completed the symphony, I could hardly express my surprise about the speed of his composing. Then he replied: ‘1848 and 1849 was the two most fruitful years of my life, whatever it means. If we examine for instance Händel’s activity no one else can be compared to him. I do not understand what is special about someone writing a symphony within a month. During this period of time he composed a whole oratorio. One who is able to create such a thing has to do it in a short period of time: the sooner, the better. The flow of ideas, the way of thinking is more natural this way than after a long period of pensiveness.’” (Last BFO performance May 3, 1997, Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, conductor Marek Janowski)