Incontro con Iván Fischer

Conductor, composer, director d'opera, thinker and educator, Iván Fischer is considered one of the most visionary musicians of our time. His goal is always music and, to that end, he has developed several new concert formats and reformed the structure and working method of the symphony orchestra. to mid-1980s he founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra and from then introduced and established numerous innovations. Fischer envisions an ensemble of musicians serving the community in various combinations and musical styles. His work as music director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra has turned into one of the greatest musical success stories of the past 30 years. With international tours and a series of recordings for Philips Classics and Channel Classics, he has earned a reputation as one of the world's most celebrated conductors, for whom tradition and innovation go hand in hand. He has founded numerous festivals, including the Budapest Mahlerfest, the "Bridging Europe" festival and the Vicenza Opera Festival. The World Economic Forum gave him the Crystal Award for his achievements in promoting international cultural relations. He has been principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, the Opéra National de Lyon and the Konzerthausorchester in Berlin, the latter of which named him Conductor Laureate. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra named him Honorary Guest Conductor after many decades of collaboration. He is a frequent guest conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Iván Fischer studied piano, violin and cello to Budapest before joining Hans Swarowsky's conducting class to Vienna. After spending two years as an assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt, he embarked on an international career as winner of the Rupert Foundation conducting competition to London. After several guest appearances in internationalopera theaters, he founded the Iván Fischer Opera Company. His stagings always aim at the fusion of music and theater. IFOC's productions, which often unite instrumentalists and singers in the space, have been received with great success in recent years to New York, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Geneva and Budapest. Fischer has been active as a composer since 2004. His opera The Red Heifer has attracted great interest to internationally; hisopera for children The Gruffalo has had numerous revivals to Berlin; his most frequently performed opera , Eine Deutsch-Jiddische Kantate, has been performed in several countries. Iván Fischer is an honorary citizen of Budapest, founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society and supporter of the British Kodály Academy. The President of the Republic of Hungary awarded him the Gold Medal and the French government honored him as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2006 he was awarded the Hungarian Kossuth Prize, in 2011 the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awarde the Dutch Ovatie Prize, and in 2013 he was made an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.