Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951 in Budapest) is a Hungarian conductor. His father Sándor Fischer, his elder brother Adam and his cousin György Fischer were also conductors. Iván Fischer initially studied piano, violin, composition and cello. He was a conducting student of Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, where he also studied cello, and early music, studying and working as assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
In 1976, Iván Fischer won the Rupert Foundation conducting competition in London. He began thereafter to guest-conduct such British orchestras as the BBC Symphony and to the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he conducted a world tour in 1982. His debut in the US took place with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983. He returned to Hungary in 1983 to found the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Here he introduced new, intense rehearsal methods and an emphasis on chamber music and creative work for each orchestra musician. The success of this new orchestra has won Fischer and the orchestra invitations to music festivals such as Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne and the London Proms. With the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer has introduced new concert formats. His ‘cocoa-concerts’ for small children, his public matinées where he talks about the works, his ‘secret concerts’ without an announced programme, and his open air concerts on Hero’s Square have all become popular.
Fischer signed an exclusive recording contract with Philips Classics in 1995 and his Bartok and Liszt recordings with Budapest Festival won a Gramophone award, Diapason d'Or de l'Annee, four Cles de Telerama, the Arte, MUM and Erasmus prizes. Other recordings include works by Kodaly, Dvorak and Fischer’s own orchestration of Brahms's Hungarian Dances, which combine improvisations from Gypsy musicians with a symphony orchestra. His records feature performances of Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Antonín Dvořák with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. His recording of Bartók's ballet The Miraculous Mandarin received the 1998 Gramophone Award in the Orchestral category. From 2004, he started a new partnership with Channel Classics, whose recent releases include Mahler Symphony No. 6 and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, both with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
As a guest conductor, Iván Fischer appears regularly with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischer Rundfunks, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2006. He also has a close relationship with the Munich Philharmonic, with whom he will conduct a three year Mahler project starting in December 2007 with Mahler 3.
In 2006, Iván Fischer became Principal Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington and a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He also debuted that year at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in a new production of Cosi fan Tutte.
"…this summer's new Cosi fan Tutte represents the closest Glyndebourne has come to Mozartian perfection in quite some time. Nicholas Hytner's wonderfully detailed yet passive production and Iván Fischer's straight-forward conducting impose nothing on the piece, and the result is that Mozart is allowed to speak for himself." – John Allison, The Sunday Telegraph, 28 May 2006
Iván Fischer was Music Director of the Opera National de Lyon from 2000 to 2003. The Lyon production of Ariadne aux Naxos received the prize of ‘best regional opera production of the year’ given by the Association of French Music Critics. Previously Music Director, then Artistic Director, with Kent Opera, as guest conductor Fischer has led a Mozart cycle in the Vienna State Opera, and productions in Zurich, London, Paris, Brussels, Stockholm and Budapest. For seven years he held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Iván Fischer is a founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society, and the Patron of the British Kodaly Academy. He received the Golden Medal Award from the President of the Republic of Hungary, and the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum for his services to help international cultural relations. In March 2006 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's most prestigious distinction in the ___domain of the arts.
In April 2007, Fischer was named the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, DC), after Leonard Slatkin steps down as music director in 2008. It was reported that the orchestra had favored Fischer as the next music director, but he did not want to commit to the full duties of the position. The position is for two years.[1]