“The sense of an orchestra actually enjoying themselves, wanting to communicate this joy as directly as possible, the generosity and talent and spirit of it all is quite overwhelming,” the reviewer for The Spectator said following a BFO performance at the BBC Proms.
Listening to the Budapest Festival Orchestra, critics often use expressions such as “perfect” or “one-of-a-kind”. We are regularly invited to return to some of the most prestigious concert venues in Europe and the United States. Our audiences demand encore after encore and often don’t want to let the orchestra leave the stage.
The BFO is full of surprises: Our musicians are also skilled singers! “Someone who was playing the viola a minute ago is now standing next to the flautist. And then she begins to sing, without instrumental accompaniment, in perfect clarity, letting her outstanding soprano voice ring out... Amazing!” wrote a critic for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
One of the highlights of this year’s season is our return, for the first time since 1998, to the Hollywood Bowl. We will perform twice at Lincoln Center in New York City and will be return visitors to the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Barbican in London. We are delighted to be on tour again with the renowned pianist Sir András Schiff, and to return to one of Belgium’s largest classical music events, the Klarafestival.
The Vicenza Opera Festival, founded in 2018 by Iván Fischer, will offer opera in the magnificent Teatro Olimpico, designed by Palladio, as well as community chamber music concerts. We want everyone to enjoy the music of the BFO!
Together, as a community, we are at home everywhere.
Orsolya Erdődy Deputy Managing Director
