Orchestra

The story of the National Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra) began in 1923, with the formation of the Metropolitan Orchestra, which rapidly became one of the pillars of Hungarian musical life. After the war, Ferenc Fricsay and László Somogyi were appointed as principal conductors. During this era, Otto Klemperer also conducted forty concerts, while another regular guest was Antál Doráti.

In the 1950's, the orchestra began a series of highly successful foreign appearances. 1952 saw the appointment of János Ferencsik as principal conductor, which proved to be a match made in heaven for the orchestra. In the 1960's, a new wave of guest conductors took up invitations to conduct the orchestra, and their names read like a Who's Who of the profession: Ernest Ansermet, Antál Doráti, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Sir John Barbirolli, Leopold Stokowski, Claudio Abbado and Christoph von Dohnányi. Soloists to perform with the orchestra included such legends as Sviatoslav Richter, Yehudi Menuhin, Anja Silja, János Starker and Ruggiero Ricci, to name only a few.

János Ferencsik's death in 1984 brought this chapter of the orchestra's history to a close. But in 1987, a fitting successor to Ferencsik was found in the person of the Japanese conductor Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro. Kobayashi enjoyed immense popularity im mHungary and he directed the orchestra for ten years. The next major change for the orchestra occured in 1998 when it was renamed Hungarian National Philharmonic and together with the Hungarian State Choir (now Hungarian National Choir) became national basic institutions.

There were also major changes in the orchestra's artistic leadership. Since the autumn 1997, the general music director has been Zoltán Kocsis who appointed one of the most talented of the younger generation of Hungarian conductors, Zsolt Hamar, as resident conductor.


From the beginning of 2000, the Ministry of Hungarian Cultural Heritage elected to give added financial support to the institution of the orchestra, choir and music library, which since 2002 has functioned as a non-profit company.

In the past few years, the orchestra has received a remarkable number of invitations to perform abroad, It has enjoyed immense successes at venues as far apart as the New York Avery Fisher Hall, the Tokyo Suntory Hall, the Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Athens Megaron Musicos and the Colmar Festival. ConcertoNet, the distinguished internet classical music journal nominated the orchestra's concert in New York in February 2003 as the winner of the Lully Prize for the best concert of the season.

General Music Director: Zoltán Kocsis
Permanent Guest Conductor: Kálmán Berkes

Harp

Deborah Sipkay

Strings

First violin
Jenő Koppándi
Gergely Kuklis
Attila Falvay
Ferenc Balogh
Ferenc Bangó
Gábor Bohus
Attila Boniszlavszky
Sándor Déri
László Fülöp
János Horváth
Éva Kissné Tóth
Károly Meleg
Rita Miczki
Zsuzsanna Molnár
Ildikó Nemes
Keiko Nishio
Dániel Papp
Katalin Pröhle
Péter Sárosi

Second violin
Ágnes Herbály
Gizella Herendiné Sz.
Gábor Bali
Gábor Bodor
Mária Detvay
Éva Dúlfalvy
Réka Koltai
János Mózer
Katalin Németh
Ferenc Sánta
Krisztina Szabó
Lilla Szentmihályi
Bernadett Szegleti Szűcsné

Viola
László Bársony
András Rudolf
Enikő Balogh
Zsuzsa Bársony
Sándor Kertész
Ernő Klepoch
Péter Ligeti
György Márkus
György Porzsolt
László Rácz
Ágnes Reményi

Cello
Tamás Koó
Rezső Pertorini
Zsuzsa Bajner
Zsolt Bartha
György Deák
Beatrix Fazekas
Sándor Harangozó
Gergely Joób
Szilvia Lantos
Marianne Pleszkán
János Zsoldos

Double Bass
Zoltán Kozák
Péter Kubina
Ferenc Kovács A.
János Mészáros
Béla Molnár
László Novák
Antal Suha
Tibor Zsákai

Woodwinds

Flute
János Bálint
Anita Szabó
Zsófia Embey Isztin
Kornélia Gáspár
Irén Móré

Oboe
József Kiss
Eszter Pap
Nóra Baráth
Béla Horváth
Ágnes Kubina

Clarinet
Zsolt Szatmári
József Tönköly
József Németh
György Salamon
István Varga

Bassoon
Pál Bokor
Sándor Tamás
Klára Börzsönyi
Zsolt Szabó

Brasses

Horn
László Rákos
Tamás Zempléni
Rajmund Andó
László Gál
Tibor Maruzsa
Endre Tekula

Trumpet
Zoltán Molnár
László Tóth
Zsolt Skultéty
Zsolt Spitzer

Trombone
Jenő Kácsik
Ferenc Kócziás
Ákos Galla
Balázs Kerényi
Béla Koppányi

Tuba
László Szabó

Percussions

Mihály Kaszás
Gergely Bíró
Gábor Gela
Szabolcs Joó
Nándor Weisz