Budapest Festival Orchestra wins Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year award

BFZ was shortlisted for the award on the back of its Brahms recording, alongside nine other orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic and the Bavarian State Orchestra. The prize was awarded based on some 10,000 votes cast by the public worldwide, of which BFO received some 38 percent.

Music director Ivan Fischer said in a speech from Berlin that the award was a feedback of their aim to “share the beauty and joy of music with our audience”, and expressed hope that it would boost interest in the orchestra and lure “corona-shy audiences” back into concert halls.

people had been interviewed from both countries by phone as part of the survey dubbed “Hungary-Germany barometer” prepared for the sixth time this year. Some 56 percent of Hungarians and 59 percent of Germans said they had a good opinion of the other country but less than half of Hungarians and Germans said bilateral relations were good.

Bilateral relations need to be improved considering that 88 percent of Hungarians and 70 percent of Germans said they were important for the future of the EU, he added.