Orquestas y Teatros
Győr Philharmonic Orchestra
The professionals of classical music are familiar with the names of Artur Nikisch, world-famous conductor and founder of several well-known European and American orchestras, and Hans Richter, world-renowned conductor, but just a few of those know that both of them were connected by thousands of ties to the city of Győr which hosts Győr Philharmonic Orchestra. The career of Artur Nikisch began he
The professionals of classical music are familiar with the names of Artur Nikisch, world-famous conductor and founder of several well-known European and American orchestras, and Hans Richter, world-renowned conductor, but just a few of those know that both of them were connected by thousands of ties to the city of Győr which hosts Győr Philharmonic Orchestra. The career of Artur Nikisch began here, then he became one of the most significant characters of the musical life of the era, whereas in 1862 Hans 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 semiprofessional art institution was transformed into a professional concert orchestra. After changing the director and the concept in 2008 the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra renewed, and the latest success story of the Orchestra began since then.
By now the work of the Orchestra is characterized by professionalism, innovative solutions, and international standard, which provides world class professional qualities to its partners, audience, soloists and guest conductors who have worked with it, by realizing the objectives of the founders of the Orchestra according to the spirit of the current era. The performances of the Orchestra were followed by great successes nearly in all European countries, and it has even managed to gain the professionals and the audience’s considerable recognition on the most significant stages of Asia, in China, South Korea and Taiwan. The Orchestra went on a successful tour to the Far East and Europe with the legendary Italian film music composer and conductor, the Oscar winner Ennio Morricone in the spring of 2009, furthermore the Ensemble gained special professional recognition as it was chosen and nominated 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...
We have entertained our audience with worldfamous 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 Curam Olesya Petrova, Bobby McFerrin, 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...
In addition to keeping the standard classicaltraditional pieces on its rich repertoire, the Orchestra is able to perform popular music by combining it with its professionalism.
According to the expectations set forth to this regional, cultural ensemble and top musical institution of the region, it serves simultaneously as a classical-traditional orchestra, a crossover film band, an outdoor or gala orchestra, a smaller or bigger chamber orchestra and possibly a concertbrass 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 The Gold Medal of the Grammy Prize holder clarinet player and conductor, 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