The Budapest Festival Orchestra's programme for the 2018/19 season, put together by Fischer with that in mind, will feature works by Arvo Pärt, a Bartók opera, a whole night of Stravinsky pieces, a Debussy–Ravel-marathon.

There will also be a great number of international guest performers from Leonidas Kavakos to Robin Ticciati and Daniil Trifonov. In addition, the BFO will also give concerts, together with Márta Sebestyén or the Amadinda Percussion Group.

Click here for the full programme of the 2018–19 season.

Hypnotic season start

The Budapest Festival Orchestra and Müpa Budapest will start off the season with the Bridging Europe festival, which will focus on the culture of the Baltics and Poland this time, featuring several Arvo Pärt pieces, and one of the Lithuanian Čiurlionis’s works accompanied by a presentation of his paintings.

The Baroque concerts of the festival will introduce the music of Gorczycki, the “Polish Handel”, while the contemporary concert audiences will see the fiery and subtle Portuguese percussionist Pedro Carneiro perform a piece on the marimba composed for him by Erkki-Sven Tüür.

What is the magic of the northern lights all about? What are the Estonians like when they feel passionate? You can find out from the festival’s mystical, fantastical concerts. 

International favourites 

During the upcoming season, we will once again be joined by the passionate young conductor, Robin Ticciati; Manfred Honeck, the genuine and humorous Austrian master popular also in the United States; Leonidas Kavakos will prove that he is first-rate not only as a violinist but also as a conductor; and Midori Seiler and Reinhard Goebel will take turns at the helm of our baroque ensemble.

Our international soloists will include the devilishly brilliant pianist Daniil Trifonov, the ambassador of 21st century cello performance Gautier Capuçon, an old BFO friend, the refined and delicate Emanuel Ax, as well as six-time Grammy winner, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.

Following a successful joint tour last year, Márta Sebestyén will be on stage with us for a Bartók concert; and we will also be performing together with the winner of the 2017 Montréal International Piano Competition, Zoltán Fejérvári.

This season, our marathon, co-produced with Müpa Budapest, will focus on Debussy and Ravel. In the new season, Iván Fischer will conduct pieces by Beethoven, Mozart, Bruckner and Dvořák. 

New season, new series

The Festival Orchestra will return to the Italian Institute with a new series titled “Concertino”, featuring the BFO’s musicians as soloists.

The winners of the orchestra’s Sándor Végh competition and principals will demonstrate exciting instruments, such as the double bass and the alto trombone. 

Time for celebration

The BFO will be celebrating its 35th anniversary this year in December with a special Surprise Concert, filled with the unexpected. In the second half of the season, we will give a joint concert with the Amadinda Percussion Group to celebrate their 35th anniversary, premiering a composition by the first master of minimalist music, Steve Reich.

International encounters

The orchestra will make its debut at the Vicenza Opera Festival with its production of Falstaff, already hugely successful in Budapest. It will also give concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall in New York. 

National encounters

The BFO will carry on its community series and give free concerts across the country for three full weeks in the new season. As Iván Fischer puts it, “The point is to serve the country, the city, the community that enables us to operate.

Since not everyone can make it to the concert halls, we’ll visit people at schools, churches and nursing homes. 

This form of direct encounter is gaining in popularity. It is loved by both the audience and the musicians and forges a more immediate connection between them instead of looking at each other from afar”.

Season tickets are now on sale.

For more information visit www.bfz.hu