Around the Music Festival

The Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra in Germany has extended its contract with Principal Conductor Adam Fischer. Fischer has been in the position since 2015 as the successor to Andrei Boreyko, and this contract renewal will extend his term from 2025 to 2030.

Fischer was born in Budapest, Hungary, and is 75 years old. He studied under Hans Swarowsky at the Bartók Conservatory and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and won the top prize at the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition in 1973.

Since making his debut at the Vienna State Opera that same year, he has continued to perform as a guest conductor many times, and in 2017 he was awarded the title of honorary member.

After that, he worked as a conductor in Karlsruhe and Graz, and then as the music director of the Freiburg Municipal Theater and the National Theater in Mannheim.

In 2001, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival as a substitute for the late Giuseppe Sinopoli, conducting “Der Ring des Nibelungen” to great success. He was entrusted with conducting the Ring cycle until 2004, and conducted “Parsifal” in 2006 and 2007.

He is highly regarded as an opera conductor, and has appeared regularly as a guest conductor at famous opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera, and the Paris Opera.

In 2006, he launched the music festival “Budapest Wagner Days” at the Palace of Arts in Budapest. In 2007, he was appointed as the Music Director of the Hungarian State Opera, but he resigned at the end of 2010 because he did not like the conservative government that had come to power.

He is also known as an expert on Haydn, and in 1987 he established the Haydn Orchestra with members of the Vienna Philharmonic and a Hungarian orchestra, and has since completed a complete set of Haydn symphonies through a series of recordings.

Meanwhile, he has been artistic director of the Danish Chamber Orchestra since 1998, and they hold the “Haydn Festival” in Copenhagen.

The Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra is the second oldest municipal orchestra in Germany. In addition to its concert activities at its home venue, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the orchestra also performs with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Rhine German Opera.

On the 12th, a gala concert was held to celebrate the 75th birthday of Adam Fischer, who celebrated his birthday on the 9th, and after the performance, the mayor announced the extension of the contract.

PHOTO：Düsseldorfer Symphoniker　/　Susanne Diesner