Iván Fischer
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Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951 in Budapest) is a Hungarian conductor.
Fischer's records feature performances of Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Antonín Dvořák with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. His recording of Bartók's ballet The Miraculous Mandarin received the 1998 Gramophone Award in the Orchestral category. Fischer's father Sándor Fischer, his elder brother Adam and his cousin György Fischer were also conductors.
Iván Fischer initially studied piano, violin, composition and cello. He graduated from Hans Swarowsky's famous conducting class in Vienna where he also studied cello, and early music (studying and working as assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt).
Iván Fischer's worldwide success as a conductor was launched in 1976 in London, where he won the Rupert Foundation competition. He was then invited to most British orchestras, most regularly to the BBC Symphony and to the London Symphony Orchestra with whom he conducted a world tour in 1982. His debut in the US took place with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983. After a very successful early international career he returned to Hungary in 1983 to found the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Here he introduced new, intense rehearsal methods and an emphasis on chamber music and creative work for each orchestra musician.
The sensational success of this new orchestra – which has since been repeatedly invited to the most prestigious music festivals such as Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne and the London Proms – established Iván Fischer's reputation as one of the world's most visionary and creative orchestral leaders. He signed an exclusive recording contract with Philips Classics in 1995 and his Bartok and Liszt recordings with Budapest Festival won a Gramophone award, Diapason d'Or de l'Annee, four Cles de Telerama, the Arte, MUM and Erasmus prizes. Other recordings include works by Kodaly, Dvorak and Fischer’s own orchestration of Brahms's Hungarian Dances, which combine improvisations from Gypsy musicians with a symphony orchestra. From 2004 he started a new partnership with Channel Classics, whose recent releases include Mahler Symphony No. 6 and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, both with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
In Budapest, where he has been Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra for over 20 years, Iván Fischer has introduced new concert forms. His ‘cocoa-concerts’ for small children, his public matinées where he talks about the works, his ‘secret concerts’ without an announced programme, and his open air concerts on Hero’s Square have all become extremely popular, with all of Budapest Festival Orchestra’s concerts played to capacity audiences.
As a guest conductor Iván Fischer appears regularly with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischer Rundfunks and Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. He recently conducted a week of concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and will make his subscription debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2006. He also has a close relationship with the Munich Philharmonic (with whom he will conduct a three year Mahler project starting in December 2007 with Mahler 3). This season Iván Fischer assumes the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (along with Vladimir Jurowski and Sir Simon Rattle) in acknowledgement of his role in the artistic growth of the orchestra.
Summer 2006 saw Iván Fischer make a stunning debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in a new production of Cosi fan Tutte, produced by Nicholas Hytner.
"…this summer's new Cosi fan Tutte represents the closest Glyndebourne has come to Mozartian perfection in quite some time. Nicholas Hytner's wonderfully detailed yet passive production and Iván Fischer's straight-forward conducting impose nothing on the piece, and the result is that Mozart is allowed to speak for himself."
– John Allison, The Sunday Telegraph, 28 May 2006
Iván Fischer was Music Director of the Opera National de Lyon from 2000 to 2003. The Lyon production of Ariadne aux Naxos received the prize of ‘best regional opera production of the year’ given by the Association of French Music Critics. Previously Music Director, then Artistic Director, with Kent Opera, as guest conductor Fischer has led a Mozart cycle in the Vienna State Opera, and productions in Zurich, London, Paris, Brussels, Stockholm and Budapest. For seven years he held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Iván Fischer is a founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society, and the Patron of the British Kodaly 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. In March 2006 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's most prestigious distinction in the domain of the arts.
