Founded in 1957, the Richmond Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia. The organization includes an orchestra of more than 70 professional musicians, the 150-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus and more than 260 students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. Each season, more than 200,000 members of the community enjoy concerts, radio broadcasts, and educational outreach programs.

The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest is the only university of music in the world founded by Franz Liszt. The renowned piano virtuoso, composer, conductor, teacher, author and philanthropist established the institution in 1875.

Our impressive list of alumni bridges genres, continents and ages. Sir Georg Solti, Antal Doráti, Sándor Végh, György Sebők, János Starker, Tamás Vásáry, Péter Frankl, György Pauk, Zoltán Kocsis, Dezső Ránki, András Schiff, Péter Eötvös, Miklós Perényi and Éva Marton, amongst others, have had an immense impact on the development of classical music.

Students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music are educated according to the institution’s twin spirits of tradition and progressiveness, while breathing in the inspiring atmosphere of the Liszt Academy Concert Centre with its international concert life. Teaching is conducted on a one-to-one basis and in small groups and workshops, respecting the individual needs of each talented student.

The FORM (Fondazione Orchestra Regionale delle Marche)-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana is one of the thirteen Italian Orchestral Concert Institutions recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.

The Orchestra deals with both symphonic and lyrical repertoire with considerable flexibility and ductility on the artistic-interpretative level, ranging from Baroque to twentieth-century to contemporary music.

It creates a rich Symphonic Season in the regional context, performing some of its productions also at prestigious Italian Theaters and Concert Societies and participates in important lyrical events: it is the resident orchestra of the Macerata Opera Festival, it was the resident orchestra for the lyrical seasons of the Teatro delle Muse in Ancona and the Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi and it is the reference orchestra for the seasons of the theaters of the Rete Lirica delle Marche (Teatro dell’Aquila in Fermo, Teatro della Fortuna in Fano, Teatro Ventidio Basso in Ascoli Piceno).

During its activity, the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana has performed with great interpreters such as Gidon Kremer, Natalia Gutman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ivo Pogorelich, Uto Ughi, Salvatore Accardo, Alexander Lonquich, Mario Brunello, Enrico Dindo, Luciano Pavarotti, Mariella Devia, I solisti della Scala, I solisti dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, availing itself of the guidance of internationally prestigious conductors, such as Gustav Kuhn (Principal Conductor from 1997 to 2003), Woldemar Nelsson (Principal Guest Conductor from 2004 to 2006), Donato Renzetti (Principal and Artistic Conductor from 2006 to 2013), Hubert Soudant (Principal Conductor from 2015 to 2019), Alessandro Bonato (Principal Conductor from 2021 to 2022), Daniel Oren, Bruno Campanella, Bruno Bartoletti, Daniele Callegari, Paolo Arrivabeni, Paolo Carignani, Corrado Rovaris, Anton Nanut, Michele Mariotti, Andrea Battistoni.

The FORM-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana has toured in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Oman, Israel, Palestine.
In February 2019, it performed Bellini’s Il pirata in concert, under the direction of Daniele Callegari, as part of the prestigious opera season of the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

On February 22, 2022, the Orchestra made its debut with extraordinary success at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna as part of the “Musik der Meister” season.

Precisely because of its versatility, the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana promotes and collaborates on projects that go beyond the classical and contemporary symphonic repertoire; numerous and of enormous importance are the collaborations with artists of the national and international jazz scene such as Paolo Fresu, Danilo Rea, Javier Girotto, Fabrizio Bosso, Martin Wind, Joe La Barbera, as well as those with artists of the world of Italian songwriting, such as Gino Paoli, Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori and more recently Max Gazzé (Concert of May 1st 2018 in Rome, Piazza S. Giovanni).

Currently the Artistic Director of the FORM is Francesco Di Rosa.

The Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana performs on average ninety concerts a year, twenty of which are intended for school audiences and educational activities, with over twenty thousand spectators present. It also participates in the realization of about forty opera performances a year both in the regional and extra-regional context.

The activity of the FORM-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana is supported by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Marche Region, the Municipalities of Ancona, Macerata, Fermo, Fano and Fabriano.

The Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana is present on the recording market with numerous recordings, including: La Serva Padrona and Stabat Mater by G.B. Pergolesi; Guntram by R. Strauss; Rossini Overtures; The Marriage of Figaro by W.A. Mozart; Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio and Preludes and Overtures by G. Verdi; Symphony No. 9 by G. Mahler; Music by L. A. Lebrun, A. Salieri and R. Strauss for oboe and orchestra – soloist Francesco Di Rosa, conductor Alessio Allegrini (AMADEUS, May 2013); also several operas on DVD: L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti produced by Rai, The Tales of Hoffmann by Offenbach, Macbeth by Verdi, Norma by Bellini, Maria Stuarda by Donizetti.

Puskás International was established in London in 2012 as a classical music artist management and consultancy business. It represents select international artists and provides project management services, covering the entire process from conception, marketing, PR and event management. As a boutique agency, we specialise in the management and career development of soloists, conductors and ensembles, and have also a focus on developing and curating projects including festivals, digital projects, and tours.

Cooperation partners include among others Universal Edition, Boosey & Hawkes, Deutsche Grammophon, Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Southbank Centre, Philharmonia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Plovdiv Opera was founded in 1953. In 1999 the State Opera of Plovdiv and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Plovdiv were united in a single society. Both of the professional institutions have over a 50-year-old history. In the summer of 2010 the society was called State Opera of Plovdiv – a state cultural institute creating and performing symphonic and chamber concerts in the field of opera, symphony and ballet. 

The Symphonic Orchestra of Plovdiv is the first state orchestra outside the capital. It is established in 1945, but its roots lie on 100-year-old tradition for orchestra music in Plovdiv – the biggest cultural center in the legendary Thracia. Nowadays over 100 high-qualified performers are included in the orchestra with a huge repertoire of symphonic and opera music. A huge number of professional performers, conductors and soloists have started their career in the Symphonic Orchestra. The orchestra itself has played in renowned concert halls all around Europe.

The Opera of Plovdiv was established in 1953 with its first spectacle –“A sold bride” by B. Smetana. In the course of time  the repertoire of the Opera was enriched with works by  Cimarosa, Pergolesi, Motzart, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, Masani, Leonkavalo, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Chaikovski, Musorgski, Borodin, Rahmaninov, Stravinski, Carl Orff, Yanachek, Ravel, Briton, Menotti, Burnshtein, Gershwin, Prokofiev.
One of the most remarkable events connected with the opera are the open-air performances – now OPERA OPEN Festival. This tradition started in 1965 with a few incredible concerts on the Liberators Hill. About 20 years later, with the excavations of the Ancient Theatre, the Opera was given the opportunity to perform in this magnificent atmosphere. Nowadays, the Festival of the Opera Art is annually carried out at there.

The State Opera of Plovdiv has quite a lot of performances nowadays, connected with the opera, the symphony, the musical-humoristic genre and the ballet, performed in the country and abroad. It has gained its huge prestige with many successful concerts, tours and guest-performances in Europe and the USA, a significant number of records and participation in popular events in Bulgaria and abroad.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is the only professional symphony orchestra that serves Maryland’s Eastern Shore and southern Delaware. The MSO brings classical music to concert-going audiences and music students through symphonic programs, discovering and developing musical talents, and providing a cultural and educational presence in the region.

The MSO was established for the Mid-Atlantic region in October, 1997, after a two-year grassroots effort led by Eastern Shore residents. In November, 1997, the orchestra’s first concert was performed in Ocean City, Maryland. The MSO has been led by three music directors—founding conductor Donald Buxton (1997–2004), conductor Julien Benichou (2004–2021), and current conductor Michael Repper (2022–present). The MSO is guided by a volunteer board of directors in collaboration with the MSO’s professional musicians and regional volunteer ambassadors who assist in promoting the MSO in their respective areas.

Maryland State Senator Adelaide C. Eckardt honored the MSO in December, 2022, with an ‘Official Citation of the Senate of Maryland’ for the orchestra’s 25 years of enriching the cultural life of the Mid-Atlantic Region.

The Yale School of Music recognized the orchestra’s efforts in introducing school-age children to instrumental music with the ‘2016 Distinguished Educator Award’ to JoFran Falcon (1930-2022), then MSO’s vice president of education and outreach.

The genesis and historical design of the Rovigo Conservatory, together with the dynamism that has distinguished its protagonists (generations of teachers, students, technical-administrative staff and managerial figures), are today “narrated” in the volume, supported by the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Rovigo, “Sonore pietre … e vive” / Il Conservatorio Statale di Musica Francesco Venezze di Rovigo (I Tigli series, 3, Accademia dei Concordi, Apogeo editore, Adria, October 2019, pp. 228, ill., 21×21 cm). A continuous intertwining of places, history, teaching and production – thanks also to past and present study contributions – which in their complexity and interaction represent the entire Conservatory.

This historical profile therefore constitutes a single summary of the musical training institutions that have succeeded one another in about a century in the city of Rovigo, having as its main reception venue Palazzo Venezze, a monumental villa donated in 1911 to the community of Rovigo by Maria Venezze Giustiniani, daughter of Francesco Antonio (Podestà of Rovigo from 1848 to 1864), so that it could host “an important permanent city institution” and keep it in the name of her father. This explains first of all why the Conservatory of Rovigo was not named after a figure linked to the world of music.

The Francesco Venezze State Conservatory of Music in Rovigo is a primary center for high-level training, specialization, research and production in the artistic-musical field with the aim of preparing specific professional figures in the training sectors it covers at a compositional, vocal, instrumental and didactic level, both in the cultural values ​​of Western tradition and in the multiple expressive languages ​​of contemporaneity.
The Conservatory has legal personality and has regulatory, artistic, didactic, organizational, administrative, financial and accounting autonomy, in compliance with the Constitution of the Italian Republic and the legislation in force; it allows all Italian, European and non-European citizens equal opportunities to access studies, thus promoting the musical development of the national and international community.
The publicity of educational results through widespread forms of production and research aimed at the territory with which the Conservatory maintains a strong bond of belonging – also through agreements, collaborations and conventions with public and private institutions that share its cultural vocation – gives continuous lifeblood to the musical heritage both in the renewed proposal of tradition reinterpreted according to updated historically informed study canons, and in the generational renewal of young talents, and again in the creation and application of new languages.

The Conservatory has its own Statute of autonomy and the various implementing regulations contemplated by the Reform, but above all the new courses require ever-increasing spaces and an enrichment of both traditional and advanced technology instruments, possible thanks to ministerial contributions and the aforementioned Foundations. On 26 October 2009 the new Auditorium was inaugurated; on 10 May 2019 it was named in memory of Marco Tamburini – a renowned jazz musician who died prematurely in 2015. On 27 March 2015 the Church of Sant’Agostino was returned to the community, entrusted on loan for use to the Conservatory, a hall particularly suitable for concerts, meetings, lessons, but particularly dedicated to the laboratories of the highly sought-after first and second level academic courses in Applied Music, which also act as control rooms for professional recordings. The concert and musical culture promotion activities activated by the Conservatory are increasingly intense, which at the educational level also operates in close synergy with the affiliated Venezze middle school, which – to name only the main ones – can be divided by geographical size also as a testimony to the dense institutional relations.

The total number of students is around 700 units annually, including several foreign presences.

The oldest symphonic ensemble in Hungary, the Budapest Philharmonic Society orchestra was founded in 1853 by Erkel Ferenc.

Its history is odd in its kind: a number of music history events, a long line of composers and performers who are turning to this age and are of decisive importance to the age, together lead to a rich history that makes the band rightly considered the most important European bands. The foundations of the Hungarian symphonic concert life were laid down by our group, the first in Europe to introduce the rental system. For nearly 100 years as the only professional symphonic band, we had the task of continuously following the European music literature and integrating Hungarian music culture into the world’s forefront. On a number of occasions all over Europe watched our concerts in Budapest, and critics took over the compositions of Hungarian audiences.

Since its founding, we have always been one of the fundamental goals of presenting the great musical works of the past and present: the result is that personalities have defined the band’s history as Ferenc Erkel, Ferenc Liszt, Károly Goldmark, Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák, Gustav Mahler and Pietro Mascagni Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, Ernő Dohnányi, Ottorino Respighi, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Zoltán Kodály, Leo Weiner, Pál Kadosa, Emil Petrovics, Sokolay Sándor, and last but not least György Kurtág.

The most important works prémiered by the Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra include Béla Bartók’s The Amazing Mandarin (Suite) and Dance Suite, Zoltan Kodály’s Galánta dances and Psalmus Hungaricus as well as and Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony in D major “Titan”.

The orchestra began its existence in 2018 as a lineup of musicians invited by China to organize the first philharmonic orchestra in Chinese cities with second-tier status. Until then, professional symphony orchestras had been subsidized from the state budget only in provincial capitals. In 2019, through the efforts of the rector of Zhangjiajie University, Mr. Zhang Debin, the Zhangjiajie Philharmonic Orchestra was established with financial support from the Municipality of the city.

The orchestra is based in the picturesque area of Zhangjiajie on the campus of the University and is part of the community of this institution. The concert hall for performances and all the infrastructure are in one place, near the picturesque sites of the famous Tianmen Mountain.

The orchestra has an extensive repertoire that includes works of world classics, as well as Chinese composers. The orchestra’s musicians constantly participate in projects aimed at the formation of China’s tourism center, the city of Zhangjiajie, as well as participation in international projects.

The decision to establish a cultural representation of Austria in Budapest was made in 1976. On October 20, 1977, the official opening of the Austrian Cultural Institute took place, which was renamed the Austrian Cultural Forum (ÖKF Budapest) in 2001. The ÖKF is housed in the building of the Austrian Embassy in Budapest and is an institution of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) in Vienna.

Through its numerous events, the ÖKF Budapest offers a platform for cultural contacts between Hungary, Austria and those interested in culture from all over the world. It supports artists, scientists and projects in the fields of music, literature, performing and visual arts, film, German as a foreign language as well as symposiums and discussion events. Another focus is cooperation with Austrian schools supported by Austria and the German-speaking Andrássy University in Budapest. The ÖKF Budapest is an active member of the EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) network in Hungary, whose mission is to make Europe’s diverse cultural landscape accessible and tangible.

The ÖKF Budapest organizes most events in cooperation with Hungarian partner organizations in museums, galleries, concert halls, arthouse cinemas, theaters and universities. The ÖKF Budapest has its own exhibition space in which contemporary Austrian artists, as well as joint group exhibitions of Austrian and Hungarian artists, are presented. The consultant for fine arts and the ÖKF exhibition space is the renowned Hungarian art expert Dr. Krisztián Kukla. Please see our events calendar for current dates.

Admission to all events of the ÖKF Budapest at Benczúr utca 16 is generally free, but registration may be required due to limited seating.

Promoting an internationally open cultural climate, contemporary artistic creation and cultural participation are key tasks for Austria. An active foreign cultural policy with a worldwide network of cultural forums and Austrian libraries is therefore an important part of the work of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

The Austrian Cultural Forums are subordinate to the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs in Vienna, which sets out the main topics of Austrian foreign cultural policy in the document “The foreign cultural relations of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. Basic principles, priorities and programs”. The cultural forums’ programs are largely designed independently, although they are also based on local conditions and partners. For more information about Austrian Cultural Forums, please visit the Foreign Ministry’s website.

The decision to establish a cultural representation of Austria in Budapest was made in 1976. On October 20, 1977, the official opening of the Austrian Cultural Institute took place, which was renamed the Austrian Cultural Forum (ÖKF Budapest) in 2001. The ÖKF is housed in the building of the Austrian Embassy in Budapest and is an institution of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) in Vienna.

Through its numerous events, the ÖKF Budapest offers a platform for cultural contacts between Hungary, Austria and those interested in culture from all over the world. It supports artists, scientists and projects in the fields of music, literature, performing and visual arts, film, German as a foreign language as well as symposiums and discussion events. Another focus is cooperation with Austrian schools supported by Austria and the German-speaking Andrássy University in Budapest. The ÖKF Budapest is an active member of the EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) network in Hungary, whose mission is to make Europe’s diverse cultural landscape accessible and tangible.

The ÖKF Budapest organizes most events in cooperation with Hungarian partner organizations in museums, galleries, concert halls, arthouse cinemas, theaters and universities. The ÖKF Budapest has its own exhibition space in which contemporary Austrian artists, as well as joint group exhibitions of Austrian and Hungarian artists, are presented. The consultant for fine arts and the ÖKF exhibition space is the renowned Hungarian art expert Dr. Krisztián Kukla. Please see our events calendar for current dates.

Admission to all events of the ÖKF Budapest at Benczúr utca 16 is generally free, but registration may be required due to limited seating.

Promoting an internationally open cultural climate, contemporary artistic creation and cultural participation are key tasks for Austria. An active foreign cultural policy with a worldwide network of cultural forums and Austrian libraries is therefore an important part of the work of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

The Austrian Cultural Forums are subordinate to the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs in Vienna, which sets out the main topics of Austrian foreign cultural policy in the document “The foreign cultural relations of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. Basic principles, priorities and programs”. The cultural forums’ programs are largely designed independently, although they are also based on local conditions and partners. For more information about Austrian Cultural Forums, please visit the Foreign Ministry’s website.

Founded in 1957, the Richmond Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia. The organization includes an orchestra of more than 70 professional musicians, the 150-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus and more than 260 students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. Each season, more than 200,000 members of the community enjoy concerts, radio broadcasts, and educational outreach programs.

The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest is the only university of music in the world founded by Franz Liszt. The renowned piano virtuoso, composer, conductor, teacher, author and philanthropist established the institution in 1875.

Our impressive list of alumni bridges genres, continents and ages. Sir Georg Solti, Antal Doráti, Sándor Végh, György Sebők, János Starker, Tamás Vásáry, Péter Frankl, György Pauk, Zoltán Kocsis, Dezső Ránki, András Schiff, Péter Eötvös, Miklós Perényi and Éva Marton, amongst others, have had an immense impact on the development of classical music.

Students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music are educated according to the institution’s twin spirits of tradition and progressiveness, while breathing in the inspiring atmosphere of the Liszt Academy Concert Centre with its international concert life. Teaching is conducted on a one-to-one basis and in small groups and workshops, respecting the individual needs of each talented student.

The FORM (Fondazione Orchestra Regionale delle Marche)-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana is one of the thirteen Italian Orchestral Concert Institutions recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.

The Orchestra deals with both symphonic and lyrical repertoire with considerable flexibility and ductility on the artistic-interpretative level, ranging from Baroque to twentieth-century to contemporary music.

It creates a rich Symphonic Season in the regional context, performing some of its productions also at prestigious Italian Theaters and Concert Societies and participates in important lyrical events: it is the resident orchestra of the Macerata Opera Festival, it was the resident orchestra for the lyrical seasons of the Teatro delle Muse in Ancona and the Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi and it is the reference orchestra for the seasons of the theaters of the Rete Lirica delle Marche (Teatro dell’Aquila in Fermo, Teatro della Fortuna in Fano, Teatro Ventidio Basso in Ascoli Piceno).

During its activity, the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana has performed with great interpreters such as Gidon Kremer, Natalia Gutman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ivo Pogorelich, Uto Ughi, Salvatore Accardo, Alexander Lonquich, Mario Brunello, Enrico Dindo, Luciano Pavarotti, Mariella Devia, I solisti della Scala, I solisti dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, availing itself of the guidance of internationally prestigious conductors, such as Gustav Kuhn (Principal Conductor from 1997 to 2003), Woldemar Nelsson (Principal Guest Conductor from 2004 to 2006), Donato Renzetti (Principal and Artistic Conductor from 2006 to 2013), Hubert Soudant (Principal Conductor from 2015 to 2019), Alessandro Bonato (Principal Conductor from 2021 to 2022), Daniel Oren, Bruno Campanella, Bruno Bartoletti, Daniele Callegari, Paolo Arrivabeni, Paolo Carignani, Corrado Rovaris, Anton Nanut, Michele Mariotti, Andrea Battistoni.

The FORM-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana has toured in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Oman, Israel, Palestine.
In February 2019, it performed Bellini’s Il pirata in concert, under the direction of Daniele Callegari, as part of the prestigious opera season of the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

On February 22, 2022, the Orchestra made its debut with extraordinary success at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna as part of the “Musik der Meister” season.

Precisely because of its versatility, the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana promotes and collaborates on projects that go beyond the classical and contemporary symphonic repertoire; numerous and of enormous importance are the collaborations with artists of the national and international jazz scene such as Paolo Fresu, Danilo Rea, Javier Girotto, Fabrizio Bosso, Martin Wind, Joe La Barbera, as well as those with artists of the world of Italian songwriting, such as Gino Paoli, Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori and more recently Max Gazzé (Concert of May 1st 2018 in Rome, Piazza S. Giovanni).

Currently the Artistic Director of the FORM is Francesco Di Rosa.

The Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana performs on average ninety concerts a year, twenty of which are intended for school audiences and educational activities, with over twenty thousand spectators present. It also participates in the realization of about forty opera performances a year both in the regional and extra-regional context.

The activity of the FORM-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana is supported by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Marche Region, the Municipalities of Ancona, Macerata, Fermo, Fano and Fabriano.

The Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana is present on the recording market with numerous recordings, including: La Serva Padrona and Stabat Mater by G.B. Pergolesi; Guntram by R. Strauss; Rossini Overtures; The Marriage of Figaro by W.A. Mozart; Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio and Preludes and Overtures by G. Verdi; Symphony No. 9 by G. Mahler; Music by L. A. Lebrun, A. Salieri and R. Strauss for oboe and orchestra – soloist Francesco Di Rosa, conductor Alessio Allegrini (AMADEUS, May 2013); also several operas on DVD: L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti produced by Rai, The Tales of Hoffmann by Offenbach, Macbeth by Verdi, Norma by Bellini, Maria Stuarda by Donizetti.

Puskás International was established in London in 2012 as a classical music artist management and consultancy business. It represents select international artists and provides project management services, covering the entire process from conception, marketing, PR and event management. As a boutique agency, we specialise in the management and career development of soloists, conductors and ensembles, and have also a focus on developing and curating projects including festivals, digital projects, and tours.

Cooperation partners include among others Universal Edition, Boosey & Hawkes, Deutsche Grammophon, Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Southbank Centre, Philharmonia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Plovdiv Opera was founded in 1953. In 1999 the State Opera of Plovdiv and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Plovdiv were united in a single society. Both of the professional institutions have over a 50-year-old history. In the summer of 2010 the society was called State Opera of Plovdiv – a state cultural institute creating and performing symphonic and chamber concerts in the field of opera, symphony and ballet. 

The Symphonic Orchestra of Plovdiv is the first state orchestra outside the capital. It is established in 1945, but its roots lie on 100-year-old tradition for orchestra music in Plovdiv – the biggest cultural center in the legendary Thracia. Nowadays over 100 high-qualified performers are included in the orchestra with a huge repertoire of symphonic and opera music. A huge number of professional performers, conductors and soloists have started their career in the Symphonic Orchestra. The orchestra itself has played in renowned concert halls all around Europe.

The Opera of Plovdiv was established in 1953 with its first spectacle –“A sold bride” by B. Smetana. In the course of time  the repertoire of the Opera was enriched with works by  Cimarosa, Pergolesi, Motzart, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, Masani, Leonkavalo, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Chaikovski, Musorgski, Borodin, Rahmaninov, Stravinski, Carl Orff, Yanachek, Ravel, Briton, Menotti, Burnshtein, Gershwin, Prokofiev.
One of the most remarkable events connected with the opera are the open-air performances – now OPERA OPEN Festival. This tradition started in 1965 with a few incredible concerts on the Liberators Hill. About 20 years later, with the excavations of the Ancient Theatre, the Opera was given the opportunity to perform in this magnificent atmosphere. Nowadays, the Festival of the Opera Art is annually carried out at there.

The State Opera of Plovdiv has quite a lot of performances nowadays, connected with the opera, the symphony, the musical-humoristic genre and the ballet, performed in the country and abroad. It has gained its huge prestige with many successful concerts, tours and guest-performances in Europe and the USA, a significant number of records and participation in popular events in Bulgaria and abroad.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is the only professional symphony orchestra that serves Maryland’s Eastern Shore and southern Delaware. The MSO brings classical music to concert-going audiences and music students through symphonic programs, discovering and developing musical talents, and providing a cultural and educational presence in the region.

The MSO was established for the Mid-Atlantic region in October, 1997, after a two-year grassroots effort led by Eastern Shore residents. In November, 1997, the orchestra’s first concert was performed in Ocean City, Maryland. The MSO has been led by three music directors—founding conductor Donald Buxton (1997–2004), conductor Julien Benichou (2004–2021), and current conductor Michael Repper (2022–present). The MSO is guided by a volunteer board of directors in collaboration with the MSO’s professional musicians and regional volunteer ambassadors who assist in promoting the MSO in their respective areas.

Maryland State Senator Adelaide C. Eckardt honored the MSO in December, 2022, with an ‘Official Citation of the Senate of Maryland’ for the orchestra’s 25 years of enriching the cultural life of the Mid-Atlantic Region.

The Yale School of Music recognized the orchestra’s efforts in introducing school-age children to instrumental music with the ‘2016 Distinguished Educator Award’ to JoFran Falcon (1930-2022), then MSO’s vice president of education and outreach.

The genesis and historical design of the Rovigo Conservatory, together with the dynamism that has distinguished its protagonists (generations of teachers, students, technical-administrative staff and managerial figures), are today “narrated” in the volume, supported by the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Rovigo, “Sonore pietre … e vive” / Il Conservatorio Statale di Musica Francesco Venezze di Rovigo (I Tigli series, 3, Accademia dei Concordi, Apogeo editore, Adria, October 2019, pp. 228, ill., 21×21 cm). A continuous intertwining of places, history, teaching and production – thanks also to past and present study contributions – which in their complexity and interaction represent the entire Conservatory.

This historical profile therefore constitutes a single summary of the musical training institutions that have succeeded one another in about a century in the city of Rovigo, having as its main reception venue Palazzo Venezze, a monumental villa donated in 1911 to the community of Rovigo by Maria Venezze Giustiniani, daughter of Francesco Antonio (Podestà of Rovigo from 1848 to 1864), so that it could host “an important permanent city institution” and keep it in the name of her father. This explains first of all why the Conservatory of Rovigo was not named after a figure linked to the world of music.

The Francesco Venezze State Conservatory of Music in Rovigo is a primary center for high-level training, specialization, research and production in the artistic-musical field with the aim of preparing specific professional figures in the training sectors it covers at a compositional, vocal, instrumental and didactic level, both in the cultural values ​​of Western tradition and in the multiple expressive languages ​​of contemporaneity.
The Conservatory has legal personality and has regulatory, artistic, didactic, organizational, administrative, financial and accounting autonomy, in compliance with the Constitution of the Italian Republic and the legislation in force; it allows all Italian, European and non-European citizens equal opportunities to access studies, thus promoting the musical development of the national and international community.
The publicity of educational results through widespread forms of production and research aimed at the territory with which the Conservatory maintains a strong bond of belonging – also through agreements, collaborations and conventions with public and private institutions that share its cultural vocation – gives continuous lifeblood to the musical heritage both in the renewed proposal of tradition reinterpreted according to updated historically informed study canons, and in the generational renewal of young talents, and again in the creation and application of new languages.

The Conservatory has its own Statute of autonomy and the various implementing regulations contemplated by the Reform, but above all the new courses require ever-increasing spaces and an enrichment of both traditional and advanced technology instruments, possible thanks to ministerial contributions and the aforementioned Foundations. On 26 October 2009 the new Auditorium was inaugurated; on 10 May 2019 it was named in memory of Marco Tamburini – a renowned jazz musician who died prematurely in 2015. On 27 March 2015 the Church of Sant’Agostino was returned to the community, entrusted on loan for use to the Conservatory, a hall particularly suitable for concerts, meetings, lessons, but particularly dedicated to the laboratories of the highly sought-after first and second level academic courses in Applied Music, which also act as control rooms for professional recordings. The concert and musical culture promotion activities activated by the Conservatory are increasingly intense, which at the educational level also operates in close synergy with the affiliated Venezze middle school, which – to name only the main ones – can be divided by geographical size also as a testimony to the dense institutional relations.

The total number of students is around 700 units annually, including several foreign presences.

The oldest symphonic ensemble in Hungary, the Budapest Philharmonic Society orchestra was founded in 1853 by Erkel Ferenc.

Its history is odd in its kind: a number of music history events, a long line of composers and performers who are turning to this age and are of decisive importance to the age, together lead to a rich history that makes the band rightly considered the most important European bands. The foundations of the Hungarian symphonic concert life were laid down by our group, the first in Europe to introduce the rental system. For nearly 100 years as the only professional symphonic band, we had the task of continuously following the European music literature and integrating Hungarian music culture into the world’s forefront. On a number of occasions all over Europe watched our concerts in Budapest, and critics took over the compositions of Hungarian audiences.

Since its founding, we have always been one of the fundamental goals of presenting the great musical works of the past and present: the result is that personalities have defined the band’s history as Ferenc Erkel, Ferenc Liszt, Károly Goldmark, Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák, Gustav Mahler and Pietro Mascagni Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, Ernő Dohnányi, Ottorino Respighi, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Zoltán Kodály, Leo Weiner, Pál Kadosa, Emil Petrovics, Sokolay Sándor, and last but not least György Kurtág.

The most important works prémiered by the Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra include Béla Bartók’s The Amazing Mandarin (Suite) and Dance Suite, Zoltan Kodály’s Galánta dances and Psalmus Hungaricus as well as and Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony in D major “Titan”.

The decision to establish a cultural representation of Austria in Budapest was made in 1976. On October 20, 1977, the official opening of the Austrian Cultural Institute took place, which was renamed the Austrian Cultural Forum (ÖKF Budapest) in 2001. The ÖKF is housed in the building of the Austrian Embassy in Budapest and is an institution of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) in Vienna.

Through its numerous events, the ÖKF Budapest offers a platform for cultural contacts between Hungary, Austria and those interested in culture from all over the world. It supports artists, scientists and projects in the fields of music, literature, performing and visual arts, film, German as a foreign language as well as symposiums and discussion events. Another focus is cooperation with Austrian schools supported by Austria and the German-speaking Andrássy University in Budapest. The ÖKF Budapest is an active member of the EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) network in Hungary, whose mission is to make Europe’s diverse cultural landscape accessible and tangible.

The ÖKF Budapest organizes most events in cooperation with Hungarian partner organizations in museums, galleries, concert halls, arthouse cinemas, theaters and universities. The ÖKF Budapest has its own exhibition space in which contemporary Austrian artists, as well as joint group exhibitions of Austrian and Hungarian artists, are presented. The consultant for fine arts and the ÖKF exhibition space is the renowned Hungarian art expert Dr. Krisztián Kukla. Please see our events calendar for current dates.

Admission to all events of the ÖKF Budapest at Benczúr utca 16 is generally free, but registration may be required due to limited seating.

Promoting an internationally open cultural climate, contemporary artistic creation and cultural participation are key tasks for Austria. An active foreign cultural policy with a worldwide network of cultural forums and Austrian libraries is therefore an important part of the work of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

The Austrian Cultural Forums are subordinate to the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs in Vienna, which sets out the main topics of Austrian foreign cultural policy in the document “The foreign cultural relations of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. Basic principles, priorities and programs”. The cultural forums’ programs are largely designed independently, although they are also based on local conditions and partners. For more information about Austrian Cultural Forums, please visit the Foreign Ministry’s website.