Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Janos Kovacs

Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

The orchestra was established by Ernő Dohnányi (Ernst von Dohnányi) in 1943. Among its first musical directors were János Ferencsik, Tibor Polgár and László Somogyi, then György Lehel between 1957 and 1989 and András Ligeti between 1989 and 1993. After his memorable concert in December 1992, Tamás Vásáry became chief musical director and principal conductor until 2004 and since then he has been conductor laureate of the orchestra. The numerous concerts with Ádám Fischer opened a new chapter in the orchestra’s history in the late nineties – early 2000s. Accepting the orchestra’s invitation, in 2004 Ádám Fischer became musical advisor, in 2005 first guest conductor and between 2006 and 2008 general music director and principal conductor of the Hungarian Radio’s music ensembles. Simultaneously, László Kovács was the orchestra’s first conductor between 2004 and 2008, between 2009 and 2011 Stephen D’Agostino, 2011 and 2013 Gergely Vajda led the orchestra. Since September 2014 János Kovács has been the orchestra’s principal conductor.

The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of Hungary’s leading orchestras also having a wide international reputation in concert halls, radio-and TV-stations and recording studios. Its repertoire includes the whole music literature starting from Bach’s and Händel’s great oratorical works through the 18th and 19th century’s classical and romantic pieces to the 20th and 21st century’s masterpieces and contemporary works. The oeuvre of the Hungarian classical composers, Liszt, Bartók, Dohnányi and Kodály, moreover the entire Hungarian contemporary composer generation’s pieces were and are performed and often recorded by the orchestra. Hundreds of the orchestra’s recordings of these composers form a part of the national cultural heritage and their Dohnányi Violin concertos recording got awarded with MIDEM-Prize.

Janos Kovacs

Janos Kovacs principal conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2014, studied conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, as a student of András Kórodi and Albert Simon. Immediately after his graduation in 1973 he joined the Hungarian State Opera House as a répétiteur, and in 1976 started working there as a conductor. During the summers of 1979, 1980 and 1981 he was musical assistant to Pierre Boulez in Bayreuth for performances of The Ring cycle and also for productions of The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser and Parsifal. Between 1987 and 1990 he was principal conductor of the Hungarian State Opera House.

János Kovács has been principal guest conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Society since 2001, and was an acting Director of Music at the Hungarian State Opera House in 2003 and again in 2006 and 2007. He has been Principal Conductor of the Hungarian State Opera House since the autumn of 2007.

During his career he has received several prestigious awards: Vilmos Komor Memorial Plaquette (1980), Liszt Prize (1985), Gusztáv Oláh Memorial Plaquette (1991), Merited Artist award (1996), Kossuth Prize (2001), Inter Lyra Award (2003), Gundel Artistic Award (2004) and Bartók-Pásztory Prize (2007)，Prima Primissima Award(2015), Master Artist of the Hungarian State Opera House (2016), Hungarian Cross of Merit (2018).