Iván Fischer will be opening the concert season in September with a French feeling at the Bridging Europe Festival, organised in conjunction with Müpa Budapest. His baton will guide audiences through the bohemian world of Montmartre’s artists; we will meet the impressionists Debussy and Ravel, alongside the emotional and endearingly-eccentric Erik Satie; a journey to the second half of the twentieth century will take us to Henri Dutilleux, whose centenary was celebrated by the musical world in January 2016. Ning Feng, the Chinese violinist who lives in Berlin, will play the concerts’ soloist roles; he plays a 1721 Stradivarius, which is not something you get to see every day. The Festival Orchestra’s audience will not have to go without Mahler this season, either. Iván Fischer’s deep and empathetic relationship with the composer will show through in Das Lied von der Erde, which is filled with emotions of farewell and sorrow, and which will be paired with Mendelssohn’s harmonic and overflowing Italian Symphony. The Bartók evening is another major project by the BFO’s music director; it will feature The Miraculous Mandarin and The Wooden Prince. The two works, written for dance theatre, are going to be staged alongside each other in their entirety. It is crucially important for Iván Fischer to give the new generation of conductors a chance, which is why he is launching a new series called Rising Stars. As he puts it:“I vividly remember what it was like when I was similarly thrown in at the deep end a few decades ago. It was so helpful to see so many pairs of friendly, supportive eyes in the concert hall. Please give these new youngsters a smile.” Of the three conductors making their stage débuts, Gergely Dubóczky and the Australian Vladimir Fanshil have both spent years working alongside Iván Fischer as assistant conductors, while Victor Aviat of France may be most familiar to BFO audiences in his role as an oboist. The repertoires of all three are rich in colour – fans of Beethoven, Mozart, Honegger, Berlioz, Prokofiev and Hindemith will not be disappointed. The Festival Orchestra’s Baroque Ensemble will be giving several concerts throughout the season; a real luminary of early music will visit twice, Japanese-Bavarian violinist Midori Seiler will be performing one Italian and one Germanconcert; while Hervé Niquet will join our musicians as artistic director and concert master for a performance of French baroque music. Back to Nature is a new series of chamber music concerts performed in the orchestra’s rehearsal hall, where our musicians will play pieces by Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann, Brahms and Mozart, on period instruments. This season, the Festival Orchestra is also bringing you the most exciting soloists from the international world of classical music. Those playing with us will include the 73-year-old Beethoven specialist, Richard Goode; the legendary Greek violinist,Leonidas Kavakos; Paavo Järvi, the ambassador of Estonian music; Kossuth-Prize-winning cimbalom player, Oszkár Ökrös; and the compelling young conductor, Robin Ticciati, who made his début last year with a concert of French music. What is more, Budapest will be hosting one of the world’s most extraordinary horn players, Croatia’s Radovan Vlatkovic; his fellow Croatian, pianist Dejan Lazić, who never fails to give Budapest audiences a pleasant surprise when standing in for András Schiff; French cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, whose sound is unique in its own right; as well as the returning Norwegian cello player Truls Mørk. Browse the full season’s programme here. We listen and share – join us again next season!