Ivan Fischer

Conductor, Violoncello da Spalla

One of the great musical polymaths of our era, the Hungarian conductor Iván Fischer founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra in the mid-1980s. His work as the orchestra's Musical Director and chief conductor over the decades has established it as one of the world's premiere symphonic ensembles. A regular and much-loved guest conductor with many of the leading European and American orchestras, Fischer is conductor laureate of Berlin's Konzerthausorchester and honorary guest conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. An active composer, his works have attracted international attention, as has the successful launch of his opera company, IFOC, which seeks to create an organic unity between music and theatre, with stagings that frequently spatially link singers and instrumentalists.