Budapest Festival Orchestra Named Orchestra of the Year

The Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) has been voted Orchestra of the Year, the news was announced at the Gramophone Awards gala event in London on Tuesday evening.

Iván Fischer's ensemble competed with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orchestra, among others, in the competition of the world's most prestigious classical music magazine, and received more than a third of the votes, the Festival Orchestra told the Hungarian state news agency MTI.    

The BFO was nominated by a jury of experts as one of the ten best based on its Brahms recording of the previous year, from which the international audience could choose its favorite.  

The prize was presented to BFO Managing Director Orsolya Erdődy, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, , András Simor at a ceremony in the British capital.    

The Budapest-based orchestra was certainly not only voted for by the Hungarian public, as they have a large fan base in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, among other countries, thanks to their constant touring and record releases.