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Enchanted by the human voice

The Budapest Festival Orchestra will kick off the 2026-2027 season with an alluring opera experience: a line-up of international stars will present Mozart’s The Magic Flute, directed by Iván Fischer; the orchestra will then take the show to Vicenza and Baden-Baden. The production stars Samantha Gaul as Pamina, Julian Prégardien as Tamino, Franz-Josef Selig as Sarastro and Alina Wunderlin as the Queen of the Night. The BFO will mark the occasion with a festive reception under the title Celebration in the Realm of the Queen of the Night: the event will ring in the new season and pay tribute to opera, music, the wonders of the human voice, creativity and art.

(The opera performance is a joint production of the BFO, the Iván Fischer Opera Company, Müpa Budapest and the Vicenza Opera Festival. It is presented as part of the Mozart Expedition, the BFO’s joint mini festival with Müpa Budapest.)

In addition to The Magic Flute, the ensemble will also present a children’s opera. Commissioned by the Konzerthaus Berlin, Iván Fischer composed a lively children’s opera based on The Gruffalo, the internationally acclaimed picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Translated by Ádám Nádasdy, this will be the Hungarian premiere of the piece. The performance is recommended for children between ages 3 and 10. Music director: Róbert Farkas; director: Eszter Novák.

In the rest of the season, the human voice also has a particularly important role to play beyond opera. The Budapest Festival Orchestra will expand its educational activities: following the European Orchestra Academy, the BFO is launching a children’s choir and will accept applications from children between the ages of 9 and 15. Along with group and individual voice training, children will learn the pieces with their teachers in their own towns, and then rehearse together once a month when the choir meets in Budapest. The Children’s Choir of the Budapest Festival Orchestra will hold its first performance in mid-February at Müpa Budapest where songs from different cultures will be performed. The same concert will also feature Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, “Titan.” “I am very much looking forward to working with the children. I do hope that this will be a memory that lasts a lifetime not only for the kids, but also for me,” Iván Fischer said.

In Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9, a one-hundred-member Paneuropean Choir will perform Schiller’s eternal lyrics, the anthem of the European Union. The choir comprises members of the Hungarian National Choir and singers invited from each member state of the EU. As the BFO’s music director has said, this international initiative serves two purposes: advancing European integration and celebrating the Beethoven anniversary. In addition to Budapest, the symphony will be performed in Brussels, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dortmund, Frankfurt and Lucerne.

Legendary conductors and international soloists

This will be the first time for the BFO to work with multiple Grammy award winner Sir John Eliot Gardiner, who will join the orchestra with a selection of music by Sibelius and Haydn. Following a hiatus of nearly ten years, U.S.-born conductor Marin Alsop, described as a pioneer among female conductors, will return to the BFO. She has invited Serbian-French violinist Nemanja Radulović, whom The Times has hailed for “lyric delicacy and... super-virtuosity,” to join the program.

Also returning as visiting conductors will be Robin Ticciati, Gérard Korsten and the BFO’s Principal Guest Conductor, Gábor Takács-Nagy, who this time will take the helm of a new series. He will lead the soloist debuts of two winners of the orchestra’s 2026 Sándor Végh Competition, violinists Marta Dettlaff and Éva Kóbor, both of whom are members of the European Orchestra Academy.

For Iván Fischer, one performance of key importance will be the Concert for Nature, which will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale) and Mozart’s final Violin Concerto No. 5, including a solo performance by Georgian superstar of classical music Lisa Batiashvili, known for her “fearless playing, which is so tonally rich and technically immaculate” (The Guardian). Nicolas Altstaedt is held in a class of his own among cellists; under Iván Fischer’s leadership, he will perform Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No. 1 at a thoroughly romantic concert. Another favorite of Budapest audiences, the BFO’s Christmas Surprise Concert will also return.

Baroque and Concertino

The ensemble’s series of early music concerts is set to continue, this time led by Chouchane Siranossian and Jonathan Cohen. Armenian-French violinist Siranossian’s playing has been described as “unique and angelic” (Gramophone) and “fantastically dynamic” (The Strad). Jonathan Cohen, a British expert of Baroque music, has this time invited Alaskan-born mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, a specialist of the Baroque and bel canto, to join his concert; she is known to instantly sweep audiences away with her music.

The Budapest Festival Orchestra will also continue its popular Concertino series, whose artistic director this season will be the concert master of the orchestra, Daniel Bard, a passionate devotee of chamber music. Soloists of the series will include prominent BFO musicians: flutist Gabriella Pivon and trombonist Attila Sztán.

Season passes remain available

In the new season, BFO audiences can choose from ten passes. The Doráti and the Solti passes include concerts only at Müpa Budapest, while the Ormándy and Fricsay passes include the season’s performances at the Liszt Academy. Those preferring afternoon concerts should choose the Reiner, the Fricsay or the Storytime with Iván passes, while those wishing to visit both Müpa Budapest and the Liszt Academy should opt for the Kertész or the Széll passes. The BFO will also continue its Cocoa Concerts and its very popular Midnight Music series.