Hungarian-born Iván Fischer is one of the world’s most visionary and successful orchestra conductors. He has worked with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and has served as opera director of the Opéra de Lyon and Kent Opera in the United Kingdom. In 1983, Iván Fischer founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra in his native Hungary, which he continues to lead as Music Director.

As founder and music director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer has written one of the greatest success stories in the world of classical music over the past 30 years. With international tours and a series of acclaimed recordings for Philips Classics and Channel Classics, he has earned a reputation as one of the world’s most visionary orchestral conductors. He has founded several festivals, including a summer festival of Baroque music in Budapest and the Budapest Mahler Festival, which also provides a forum for new compositions. In 2018, he founded the Vicenza Opera Festival in Vicenza.

Iván Fischer has been Principal Conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin from 2012 to 2018. In this appointment, he delighted audiences with new concert formats and unusual and exciting projects. In the 2014/15 season, he introduces the new concert series »Mittendrin«, in which the audience takes a seat in the orchestra and thus gets very close to the music.

In addition to his work with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, he has appeared as a guest conductor with the world’s most prestigious symphony orchestras. Every year he creates a two-week program with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and performs with the leading symphony orchestras in the USA.

Iván Fischer studied piano, violin and cello in Budapest before attending the conducting class of the famous Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. After two years as assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt, he launched his international career by winning the Rupert Foundation Conducting Competition in London.

Iván Fischer is the founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society and patron of the British Kodály Academy. He has been awarded the Golden Medal by the President of the Republic of Hungary and the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum for his services to the promotion of international cultural relations. The French government named him Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2006, he was awarded the Kossuth Prize, Hungary’s most prestigious art award. In 2011 he received the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award and the Dutch Ovatie Prize. In 2013 he became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is an honorary citizen of Budapest.