The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the country’s leading symphony orchestras, is celebrating its centenary in the spring of 2023.

After the eras of János Ferencsik and Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, a new chapter in the orchestra’s history began in 1997, when Zoltán Kocsis was appointed General Music Director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic. Over the next two decades, the orchestra performed not only the classics, but also important works that had previously been absent from the repertoire. With the versatility worthy of a revived national symphony orchestra, they introduced their audiences to Hungarian music of the recent past and the present, to popular chamber music concerts and events for young people, and performed the works of Richard Strauss, Debussy, Schoenberg, Ravel and Rachmaninov in some ambitious, gap-filling projects. The oeuvre of Bartók occupies a prominent place in the National Philharmonic’s repertoire, with many authoritative interpretations recorded in the Bartók New CD Series. Its subscription concerts feature world-renowned guest soloists and conductors, as well as highly talented young Hungarian musicians.

The orchestra has retained the sensitivity with which its members listen to and work with each other. The musicians are allowed to shine, but still share responsibility for the collective. They also share the goal of achieving and delivering the highest level of quality in every performance, an ambition that goes far beyond simply playing all the notes perfectly. 

Following the death of Zoltán Kocsis, Liszt Prize winner Zsolt Hamar, who had previously worked with the orchestra as its first permanent conductor, took over as music director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic from March 2017 to August 2020. 

From autumn 2022 and the start of the orchestra’s jubilee season, the musicians are led by their new General Music Director György Vashegyi.

Maestro Vashegyi has taught at the Liszt Academy since 1992 and is currently Associate Professor and Director of the Early Music Group, which was founded under his leadership in 2010. In recognition of his work, he was awarded the Liszt Prize in 2008 and the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit Civil Division in 2015. In 2021, he received the honorary title of “Chevalier L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” from the French state.  

Over the past decades, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra has given more than 350 concerts abroad and toured some 40 countries. The Orchestra has performed in the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals, including New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Athens’ Megaron, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Bucharest’s Enescu Festival, the Colmar Festival, the Canary Islands Festival and Bogotá’s Beethoven Festival. In 2011, to mark the bicentenary of Liszt’s birth, the orchestra performed at the Bozar Centre in Brussels and gave a concert at the Vatican in honour of Pope Benedict XVI. The Hungarian Natiional Philharmonic has toured Bogotá, Istanbul, South Korea, China and Switzerland, and regularly visits France, Japan, Germany, Romania, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia. In January 2023, they returned to Japan for another tour under the baton of Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi.