The European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) announced the appointment of Iván Fischer as the ensemble’s Music Director, effective immediately. Iván Fischer will succeed Vasily Petrenko, who completed a successful ten-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the EUYO, supporting the artistic development of the orchestra in significant ways. At Iván Fischer’s initiative, the EUYO and the Budapest Festival Orchestra established a new Orchestra Academy. Audiences in Budapest will have their first opportunity to hear the talented young musicians in September, at the Bridging Europe Festival.
Announcing the appointment, EUYO Executive and Artistic Director Marshall Marcus lauded the prospects the new director, Iván Fischer, will bring to the young musicians of the continent with his “talent, creativity, and humanity.” As Music Director, Iván Fischer will participate in the planning of the Orchestra’s auditions, artistic training and performances, in close collaboration with the EUYO’s Executive and Artistic Director. The EUYO’s first performances under the stewardship of Iván Fischer will take place in the Orchestra’s concert home and annual summer residency in Grafenegg during August 2024. These will be followed by a tour which will see the ensemble perform at Carnegie Hall’s WOW! festival in New York and the Bolzano Festival Bozen in Bolzano, where the Orchestra has already performed annually.
The EUYO established a joint Apprenticeship Scheme with the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) ten years ago. Now, Iván Fischer and the two orchestras have agreed to jointly establish the European Orchestra Academy (EOA), which will train future musical leaders not only in orchestral music and chamber music, but in music promotion as well, focusing also on broadening the range of activities that musicians undertake in our communities. The program also includes a series of performances across all countries of the European Union.
The first project involving the Academy will be joint concerts this September of BFO and EUYO musicians in the 2024 edition of the Bridging Europe Festival in Brussels and Budapest, capitals of the two countries holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2024, Belgium and Hungary. “I trust the new generation; they will change the world. The first step is to apply to the EUYO. We start the rest this August,” Iván Fischer said, describing the ambitions of the Academy.
Iván Fischer will remain Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra he established, and will continue to serve as guest conductor at the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Konzerthausorchester in Berlin.
Click here to read the press release on the EUYO website.
