Conductor Iván Fischer Wins Hungary's Top Arts Award

By Ben Mattison
March 20, 2006

Iván Fischer, the artistic director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, received Hungary's Kossuth Prize at a ceremony on March 15, the orchestra announced.

The prize is Hungary's highest honor for artists. Previous winners include composer György Kurtág, pianist András Schiff, and composer Peter Eötvös.

Born in Hungary, Fischer studied in Budapest and Vienna; he launched his conducting career in 1976 when he won London's Rupert Foundation conducting competition. Seven years later, he founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra and rapidly established the group as a world-class ensemble. He has also served as principal guest conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and music director of the Opéra National de Lyon, Northern Sinfonia, and Kent Opera.

Starting this fall, he will be the principal guest conductor of Washington's National Symphony.