Iván Fischer

Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951 in Budapest) is a Hungarian conductor of Jewish origin. Iván Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition. He was a conducting student of Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, where he also studied cello and early music, studying and working as assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

In 1976, Iván Fischer won the Rupert Foundation conducting competition in London. He began thereafter to guest-conduct such British orchestras as the BBC Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he conducted a world tour in 1982. His US conducting debut was with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983.

Budapest Festival Orchestra

Fischer returned to Hungary in 1983 to found the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO). The partnership between Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra has proved to be one of the greatest success stories in the past 25 years of classical music. Fischer introduced several reforms, developed intense rehearsal methods for the musicians, emphasizing chamber music and creative work for each orchestra member. Intense international touring and a series of acclaimed recordings for Philips Classics, later for Channel Classics have contributed to Iván Fischer's reputation as one of the world's most visionary and successful orchestra leaders.

He has developed and introduced new types of concerts, "cocoa-concerts" for young children, "surprise" concerts where the programme is not announced, "one forint concerts" where he talks to the audience, open-air concerts in Budapest attracting tens of thousands of people, as well as concert opera performances applying scenic elements. He has founded several festivals, including a summer festival in Budapest on baroque music and the Budapest Mahlerfest which is also a forum for commissioning and presenting new music works. In addition, there is an annual competition from within the orchestra for soloist opportunities in concert. [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,,1492774,00.html Tom Service, "Radical conduct". "The Guardian", 27 May 2005.] ]

Recordings

Fischer signed an exclusive recording contract with Philips Classics in 1995 and his Bartok and Liszt recordings with the BFO have won a Gramophone award, Diapason d'Or de l'Annee, four Cles de Telerama, the Arte, MUM and Erasmus prizes. Other Philips 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.

Since 2004 Iván Fischer records for the Channel Classics label. One of his most recent releases with the BFO is Richard Strauss’s little-known ballet, Josefslegende, which was named CD of the Month in July 2007 by Gramophone and described by the New Yorker as “electrifying”. His recording of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Budapest Festival Orchestra for Channel Classics won a 2007 “Editor’s Choice” Gramophone Award. Previous Fischer/BFO releases of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, the Mahler Sixth, and the Tchaikovsky Fourth have been similarly praised. His Glyndebourne performance of Mozart’s Così fan tutte is available on DVD and was nominated for Gramophone and Grammy award. In 2007 Channel released two new recordings: an all-Dvorák disc, featuring the Cello Concerto performed by Peter Wispelway and the Symphonic Variations, and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony paired with music written at the same time by Rossini, Weber and the Dutch composer Wilhelm Wilms. In 2008 Gramophone Magazine nominated Iván Fischer as "Artist of the year".

Work in the US

In the USA, Fischer held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for seven years. In 2006, he became Principal Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington. In April 2007, Fischer was named the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, DC), after Leonard Slatkin steps down as music director in 2008. The position is for two years. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201612.html Tim Page, "NSO Picks Fischer as Interim Maestro". "Washington Post", 13 April 2007.] ]

Other conducting work

As a guest conductor, Iván Fischer appears regularly with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Philharmoniker, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2006, he was named Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Opera

Fischer was Music Director at Kent Opera in the UK from 1984-89. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/05/18/baivan18.xml Rupert Christiansen, "My journey to the seductive heart of Così". "Telegraph", 18 May 2006.] ] , He was Music Director of the Opera National de Lyon from 2000 to 2003. The Lyon production of "Ariadne auf Naxos" received the prize of ‘best regional opera production of the year’ given by the Association of French Music Critics. Other work in opera as a guest conductor has included a Mozart cycle in the Vienna State Opera, and productions in Zurich, London, Paris, Brussels, Stockholm and Budapest. He debuted in 2006 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in a new production of "Così fan tutte":

"…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

Compositions

Fischer's compositions are usually written for intimate groups of human voices and instruments. His "Spinoza-Vertalingen" for Soprano and chamber emsemble composed on a 17th century Dutch translation of Spinoza's text has been performed first in the Netherlands, then in Hungary. For women's choir he composed "Zigeunerlied" (Goethe), "La Malinconia" (Umberto Saba), "29. Canzone di Petrarca" and "Afscheid" with a Yiddish text which was commissioned by the Dutch memorial day [Dodenherdenking] and broadcasted on Dutch National TV. His most frequently performed work is "Eine Deutsch-Jiddische Kantate", which has been performed in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Awards

Iván Fischer is a founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society, and Patron of the British Kodály 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. The French Government named him Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2006 he was honored with the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's most prestigious arts award. He is honorary citizen of Budapest.

References

External links

* [http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=262&c=2 Orchestra Conductors Fischer, Ivan] [http://www.bfz.hu]