Ivan Fischer
Photo: Marco Borggreve
Following a 77% cut of funding by the city of Budapest, the Management of the Budapest Festival Orchestra has issued the following res release: « We were shocked to learn that the Budapest Municipal Assembly has cut our orchestra’s funding by 200 million HUF, down from 260 million to 60 million (or 834.000 to 192.000 Euros). The city’s leadership did not consult us in advance, and to the best of our knowledge no impact assessment has been carried out on the implications of this decision. Since the decision to cut funding was made in the middle of the year, we have been forced to revise the programme which we planned and announced well in advance.
We have recently signed a contract with representatives from the Ministry of Human Resources to maintain the BFO’s state funding at 1,150 million HUF; the representatives have stated several times that they greatly appreciate our orchestra’s work. When planning for this season, we counted on the prolongation of funding from the city of Budapest. A cut of such magnitude, without any negotiation, is unacceptable and unfitting for a world-famous orchestra that has represented Budapest all around the world for decades, and which continues to enrich the cultural life of the capital city. » The orchestra has already cancelled several concerts as well as a tour.
On the sounds of the Eroica’s Funeral March, Music director Ivan Fischer has addressed this video message to the Budapest audience (in Hungarian). He invites people to a protest rally in Budapest on the 7th of May.
