Just in: Viktor Orban saves the Budapest Festival Orchestra

Ivan Fischer’s orchestra, threatened for months with insolvency, has been saved by Hungary’s newly authoritarian regime.

Here’s what they tell us:

An agreement has been reached between the Hungarian Government and the Budapest Municipality regarding the subsidizing of Budapest’s theatre companies. The agreement includes a 4-year subsidy agreement of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. The internationally celebrated orchestra will receive 1650 Million HUF (US$5 million) from the state and 240 Million HUF from Budapest in 2020, and from 2021 the grant from the state will be raised to 2 000 Million HUF ($6 million).

Ivan Fischer, Music Director of the BFO, says: ‘I am very happy, this is a very welcome and satisfactory arrangement which puts an end to years of cuts and uncertainty and allows us to concentrate on the music.’