Hungarian National Philharmonic
The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, in Hungarian Nemzeti Filharmonikus Zenekar, is one of Hungary’s leading symphony orchestras. Based in Budapest, it was founded in 1923 as the Metropolitan Orchestra and quickly became a central part of the country’s musical life. Its home venue is the Palace of Arts in Budapest, and the ensemble celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023.
Throughout its history it has been led by many famous conductors, including Dezső Bor (founder), Ferenc Fricsay, László Somogyi, János Ferencsik, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Zoltán Kocsis, and Zsolt Hamar. Since 2022 its general music director has been György Vashegyi, a renowned early-music specialist and educator at the Liszt Academy; he has received major awards such as the Kossuth Prize in 2024.
The orchestra has given hundreds of international concerts, touring some 40 countries. It has appeared at major venues like New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, and the Megaron in Athens, and at festivals such as Enescu in Bucharest and Liszt-related events in Brussels and the Vatican. It regularly tours France, Japan, Germany, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, and Slovenia, with recent visits to Bogotá, Istanbul, South Korea, China, and Switzerland.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 15:25 (CET).