The graduation ceremony took place on the 28th June in London, where Mr. Fischer received the honour from HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. The Royal Academy of Music Honorary Membership is limited to 300 living persons and may be conferred only upon distinguished musicians who were not the students at the Academy. Nicolas Harnoncourt, Sir Elton John, Claudio Abbado, Placido Domingo, Sir Paul McCartney, Cecilia Bartoli, András Schiff, Martha Argerich and Pinchas Zukerman are also Honorary Members.

Ivan Fischer is Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Konzerthaus Berlin. Intense international touring and a series of acclaimed recordings for Philips Classics, later for Channel Classics have contributed to Iván Fischer’s reputation as one of the world’s most visionary and successful orchestra leaders.

As a guest conductor Fischer works with the finest symphony orchestras of the world. He has been invited to the Berlin Philharmonic more than ten times, he leads every year two weeks of programs with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and appears with leading US symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. Earlier music director of Kent Opera and Lyon Opera, Principal Conductor of National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC, his numerous recordings have won several prestigious international prizes.

Ivan Fischer studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest, continuing his education in Vienna in Professor Hans Swarowsky’s conducting class. Recently he has been also active as a composer: his works have been performed in the US, Holland, Hungary, Germany and Austria, and he staged successful opera performances. His production of “The Marriage of Figaro” will be performed in New York’s Rose Theatre at the Mostly Mozart Festival and in the Konzerthaus, Berlin in August this year.

Source: Budapest Festival Orchestra