“The musical performance on its own terms was extraordinary. Over the last 30 years under Mr Fischer, the Budapest Festival Orchestra has become one of the most admired ensembles on the international scene, as was demonstrated on Sunday by this supple, glowing and transparent performance of Figaro.”

wrote critic for The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini, about the BFO’s 2013 New York performance. He believed this Figaro, like Don Giovanni two years earlier, was “a highlight of the opera season in New York.” A staged performance of The Magic Flute in the early 1990s was the first opera production by the Budapest Festival Orchestra to become an institution in its own right. After the internationally successful performances of the three Da Ponte operas, Iván Fischer and his orchestra now return to Mozart’s last work for the stage.