AMBASSADORS OF HUMANITY

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

From a project orchestra for young talents to one of the best orchestras in the world - the Budapest Festival Orchestra has made this ascent at an impressive pace. Founded in 1983, the orchestra combines outstanding quality and a love of experimentation with international appeal. It is a regular guest at the festivals of Salzburg, Edinburgh, London, Lucerne, Bonn and Prague, and has been heard on the stages of North America as well as in Asia. His recordings of works by Mahler, Bartók and Mozart have received numerous awards, including two Grammys. Equally important to the Budapest Festival Orchestra is its "grassroots" work: it not only organizes its own music festival, the Bridging Europe Festival, but also has children's and discussion concerts on its program, and plays in bars and public squares.

PAN-EUROPEAN CHORUS

The choir, newly formed for this Beethoven 9 project, brings together some 100 to 120 singers from all the member states of the European Union. These singers are either professional vocalists or young people on their way to becoming professionals. Under the direction of choir director Irene Verburg (Netherlands), these choristers will rehearse the Ode to Joy during workshops held across Europe, before joining the Budapest Festival Orchestra in Brussels in April 2027 for the tour’s launch.

IVÁN FISCHER

Iván Fischer lives and breathes music: he composes, plays several instruments and enjoys a legendary reputation as a conductor. After studying in Budapest and Vienna, he worked as Harnoncourt's assistant in Salzburg before England discovered him: 1976 victory at the conducting competition in London, 1979 chief position at the Northern Sinfonia, 1982 world tour with the London Symphony Orchestra. Fischer then devoted himself increasingly to activities in his home country, in particular the establishment of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Its triumphal march through the concert halls also brought Fischer international attention. In addition to guest conducting engagements in the USA and Great Britain, he took over the musical direction of the Berlin Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt. In 2006, he was awarded Hungary's highest honour for artists, the Kossuth Prize.

IRENE VERBURG

Voice teacher and conductor Irene Verburg (the Netherlands) started her earliest training in the National Children’s Choir of the Netherlands. There, she discovered her passion for singing. She studied Classical Singing at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Master Degree) and at the Dutch Opera Academy. Winning the prestigious Dutch Government Talent Award enabled her to continue her studies in New York. Irene performs as a concert and opera singer in The Netherlands and abroad.

MARIA BENGTSSON

The Swedish soprano Maria Bengtsson trained at the Freiburg University of Music before joining the ensembles of the Vienna Volksoper and then the Komische Oper Berlin. Since 2007, she has pursued a freelance career on major European stages, where she has distinguished herself in roles by Mozart and Strauss. In Switzerland, she notably performed the role of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in 2023. Regularly involved in symphonic projects, she collaborates with the most renowned conductors, such as Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Petrenko and Antonio Pappano. During the 2025–26 season, she notably took part in a production of Don Giovanni conducted by Iván Fischer in Budapest and Vicenza, as well as in Peter Grimes at the Royal Opera House in London.

OLIVIA VERMEULEN

Born in the Netherlands, Olivia Vermeulen studied music in Detmold and Berlin. She also benefited from the tutelage of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Andreas Scholl, Thomas Quasthoff and Irwin Gage. With a wide-ranging repertoire spanning from early music to contemporary works, she has quickly established herself on major international stages, both in opera and in concert. She also excels in the field of the Lied, notably through her albums Dirty Minds, Hello Darkness and In Heaven, recorded with pianist Jan Philip Schulze. In the contemporary repertoire, she notably took part in the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s opera Das Jagdgewehr and in performances of songs by Wolfgang Rihm. Well known to Swiss audiences, she is also a guest at the Lucerne Festival in summer 2026.

ANDREW STAPLES

British tenor Andrew Staples began his musical career as a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. He went on to study at King’s College, Cambridge, the Royal College of Music and the Benjamin Britten International Opera School, where he gained his first stage experience. His career has since continued in both opera and the concert repertoire. He is a guest at the world’s leading opera houses, including Covent Garden in London, the National Theatre in Prague, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Theater an der Wien and the Met in New York. On the concert stage, he performs regularly with renowned conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Harding. Andrew Staples is also involved in opera directing, musical films and photography.

HANNO MÜLLER-BRACHMANN

The German bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann has close ties with Switzerland, having gained his first musical experience with the Knabenkantorei Basel. He went on to study singing in Fribourg, then in Berlin under Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Spotted by Daniel Barenboim, he was invited to the Berlin Opera at Unter den Linden, where he remained a member of the company for 13 years, performing, among other roles, all the major Mozart roles. His career then flourished on major international stages under the baton of renowned conductors. Hanno Müller-Brachmann also excels in the concert repertoire, as evidenced by his numerous engagements in this field and his extensive discography. Since 2022, he has been teaching at the Karlsruhe University of Music.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 9 IN D MINOR, OP. 125

Beethoven’s Ninth – it is more than just a symphony. Not merely because it employs human voices in the final movement; later symphonic works do that too. But because, by setting Schiller’s "Ode to Joy" to music, it pursues a utopian programme: following the disappointments of the preceding decades – the French Revolution, Napoleon, the Restoration – the future vision of a society based on solidarity was to shine through, at least in music. ‘All men shall be brothers’ – that was Beethoven’s unshakeable hope, and to give it musical form, he had to break the boundaries of the conventional symphonic model. The Budapest Festival Orchestra wishes to commemorate this revolutionary act with singers from across Europe and a completely new performance concept.