Győr Philharmonic Orchestra
(Hungary)
The professionals of classical music are familiar with the names of Artur Nikisch and János Richter, but few know that both of them were connected to the city of Győr, which hosts the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra.
The career of Artur Nikisch began here, whereas in 1862 János Richter’s father, Antal Richter, established the predecessor of Győr Philharmonic Orchestra, the Song and Music Association of Győr, which became the Orchestra of the Municipality of the city of Győr in 1894, then several years later the semi-professional art institution was transformed into a professional concert orchestra. After changing its director and concept in 2008, the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra renewed, and the latest success story of the Orchestra began.
By now the work of the Orchestra is characterized by professionalism, innovative solutions, and international standards, promising world class professional qualities to its partners, audience, soloists, and guest conductors by realizing the objectives of the founders of the Orchestra according to the spirit of the current era. The performances of the Orchestra are followed by great successes in nearly all European countries, and it has even managed to gain considerable recognition on the most significant stages in China, South Korea and Taiwan. The Orchestra went on a successful tour to the Far East and Europe with the legendary Ennio Morricone in the spring of 2009, and was chosen to be the residence orchestra of the Hungarian gala of Operalia, the international opera competition established by Placido Domingo.
The Orchestra has been conducted by famous Hungarian and international maestros over the past decades including Alpaslan Ertüngealp, Michalis Economou, Angelo Epfrikian, Lamberto Gardelli, Zsolt Hamar, Arvid Jansons, Mariss Jansons, András Keller, Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro, Zoltán Kocsis, János Kovács, András Ligeti, Ludovit Rajter, Yuri Simonov, Gilbert Varga, Carlo Zecchi, Alastair Willis, Attilio Tomasello, Erwin Ortner…. We have entertained our audience with world famous soloists including Alexandru Agache, Kristóf Baráti, Gergely Bogányi, Gábor Boldoczki, András Csáki, Jörg Demus, Annie Fischer, Walter Fraccaro, Endre Gertler, Ida Haendel, Jenő Jandó, Cyprien Katsaris, Zoltán Kocsis, Michael-Martin Kofler, Ildikó Komlósi, József Lendvay, Gyöngyi Lukács, José Cura, Olesya Petrova, Bobby McFerrin, Bruce Dickinson, Erika Miklósa, Aga Mikolai, Sándor Nagy, Jevgenyij Nyesztyerenko, Zoltán Orosz, György Pauk, Miklós Perényi, Dezső Ránki, István Ruha, Vilmos Szabadi, The King’s Singers, Gilbert Varga, István Várdai, György Vukán, Bernadett Wiedemann, Sabine Meyer, Sarah Chang, Sharon Kam, Angel Blue, Stefan Pop, Sergei Nakariakov, Cyprien Katsaris, Ramón Vargas, Canadian Brass, Wiener Sängerknaben….
According to the expectations required, the orchestra is able to serve simultaneously as a classical-traditional orchestra, a crossover film band, an outdoor or gala orchestra, a smaller or bigger chamber orchestra, and possibly a concert brass and reed band.
The Director of the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra has been Géza Fűke since July 2008, the Artistic Director of the Orchestra has been Kálmán Berkes, Liszt Award and Gold Medal of the Grammy Prize holder, who has been the professor and conductor of Musashino Academy of Music, Tokyo, between 1992 and 2017. The chief conductor of the Orchestra has been Martin Rajna since January 2021.