József Gömöri and his wife sometimes lose track of just how many years ago they were married. It’s not a difficult year to remember, however, “because it was when the Festival Orchestra was established.”
The Festival Orchestra is at times like a knot in a handkerchief.
The story of József Gömöri and Márta Kamenda is as old as the story of the orchestra; they met in the summer of 1983. Not long after, the recently established Budapest Festival Orchestra announced its first Christmas concert. “For months it was in the news that a new orchestra was founded which was not created by the state. The first concert was one not to be missed.” József and Márta attended that performance as husband and wife already, sitting in row 9 (as the photo shows). Their bond as a couple and their attendance at the BFO’s concerts have remained unchanged in these 40 years. “It is difficult to keep track of so many years; ’83, ’84, ’85… when we talk about what year we were married, and we have a hard time remembering, we always say, ‘oh, well, in the year that the Budapest Festival Orchestra was founded.’”
