December 4, 2006

Iván Fischer as Guest-Conductor at the Washington National Symphony Orchestra

The world-famous Hungarian Guest-Conductor contracted to National Symphony Orchestra for three years makes his debut in Washington , D.C.

Iván Fischer conducted NSO performing works by Brahms, Kodály, Sibelius, Dvorak and Henderson three consecutive evenings from November 30th until December 2nd in Washington ’s prestigious John Fitzgerald Kennedy Center . The excellent performances were lauded by  audience and critics. The first concert was also attended by Ambassador András Simonyi.

Fischer received his formative conducting training from the Hungarian conductor Hans Swarowsky, who held a famous set of master classes in Vienna in the decades after World War II. Among the other attendees were the esteemed maestros Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, and Fischer's brother Adam.

Fischer applied his ideas writ large to the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO), which he founded in 1983. The BFO is something akin to an enlarged chamber ensemble. The orchestra has made critically acclaimed recordings of the music of Bartók and Mahler on the Philips and Channel Classics labels respectively, and the it has become Budapest 's main orchestra. In addition to a busy touring schedule (the Washington Performing Arts Society brought the orchestra to the Kennedy Center for a visit in 2003), it regularly sells out the Franz Liszt Academy and its immaculate new home, the Bartók National Concert Hall.

Click here to read the Washington Post's article Off To A Refreshing Start - December 1, 2006

Click here to read the Washington Post's article Fischer Is NSO's Welcome Guest Conductor - November 26, 2006