Iván Fischer

Iván Fischer, born in Budapest in 1951 into a distinguished musical family (his brother Ádám is also a noted conductor), is one of the most original and admired conductors of our time. He studied conducting in Vienna with the legendary Hans Swarowsky and worked as an assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt, absorbing both the grand central-European tradition and the questioning spirit of the early-music movement. In 1983 he founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra, building it from scratch into one of the world’s finest ensembles and using it as a laboratory for rethinking the concert experience: surprise programmes, open-air events for tens of thousands, concerts for small children, and a culture in which the players themselves help shape the music-making. A celebrated interpreter of Bartók, Mahler and the Austro-Hungarian repertoire, and an award-laden recording artist, Fischer has a long and warm relationship with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which holds him as an honorary guest conductor.