We invite British music lovers to join the BFOBFO – the British Friends of the Budapest Festival Orchestra to share the joy of music. Join us and be a part of this prestigious international community with Friends groups in the UK, USA, Switzerland, and Germany.
The BFO depends upon the support of corporate and private sponsors to maintain its standing in the top echelons of international music ensembles. Your donation also funds innovative community-building and educational programs to allow new audiences and new generations to hear music making at its very best.
The BFO goes on tour to the UK in again in August 2023. Join is Edinburgh or London!
A residency in Edinburgh | August 8–10
The BFO will have a residency at the Edinburgh International Festival this year as part of the Festival’s Community over chaos theme, performing four concerts in the Scottish capital between August 8–10. One of the highlights will be an event titled A model for the future, where, in a discussion with Festival Director Nicola Benedetti, Iván Fischer will explore how the orchestra could be a model for orchestras of the future, while the audience can listen to a selection ranging from Monteverdi to folk music and Klezmer.
Three BFO concerts at the BBC Proms | August 12–13
“The Budapest Festival Orchestra offer the closest thing there is to a live classical jukebox. At their Audience Choice events, concertgoers pick pieces for them to play on the spot. […] This will be a highlight of this year’s Proms — although spare a thought for the BFO’s librarian, riffling through about 250 sets of orchestral parts, brought all the way from Hungary, to find the people’s choice,” writes The Sunday Times. In addition to the Audience Choice event, the BFO will perform two concerts on August 12 and August 13, with Sir András Schiff.
After the BFO's concert of Mahler's Ninth Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall in May 2023, The Guardian’s critic wrote the following in a 5-star review:
“The final Adagio was utterly remarkable, an organic unfolding of sound and emotion, played with incomparable richness of tone, and profound in its beauty right to the end as sound, and with it life itself, finally seems to ebb almost imperceptibly away. Almost unbearably moving, and quite simply outstanding.”
The Times – in another 5-star review – remarked: “There was a collective stilled hush in the Royal Festival Hall, not only as everyone deserves a moment of quiet after hearing Mahler’s tumultuous Ninth Symphony, but also because we needed time to appreciate the remarkable playing of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. It was as if no one wanted to break the spell of the music, and everyone wanted to linger a little longer in the place we’d arrived at, on the edge of life itself.”
Besides its concerts in London and Edinburgh, the BFO offers exclusive experiences to its British Friends.
● Meet and greet with Ivan Fischer in London (Patrons only)
● Tour participation and sharing the orchestra’s success in the world’s most prestigious concert halls (costs apply)
● Music-themed long weekend in Budapest in February, which includes the BFO's Annual Ball, behind the scenes meetings, city walks, concerts, gastronomy and arts events and 5* hotel accommodation (costs apply).. The 2024 event takes place between February 1–5. Please email tamogatoiklub@bfz.hu for details!
● Monthly newsletter with exclusive information
● The BFOBFO offers two membership tiers: a yearly donation of £500 for Friends, and £2000 for Patrons.
To join or to receive more information on the British Friends of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the club’s events, please contact partner@bfz.hu or write to
BFOBFO
2 Keats Grove
London
NW3 2RT
