Presenting over 80 concerts a year, including 25 new pieces annually, the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra is one of Hungary’s most prolific – and one of its oldest, dating back to 1907. They’ve been edging ever more loudly onto the international scene, especially since the celebrated Hungarian violinist András Keller (founder of the Keller Quartet and recipient of over 70 international prizes) took the helm as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor in its centenary year back in 2007.

They’ve been prominent on the touring scene since, including two critically acclaimed UK tours in 2022 and 2023. As Keller said: ‘the UK hosts the world’s leading musicians day after day, and the audience is a highly knowledgeable one. So, the fact that we were welcomed with such sincere love was extremely inspiring and moving for us.’

Imre Szabó-Stein, their chief advisor on international strategy, agrees, commenting how a British tour in particular proves a key litmus test: ‘during the 2022 tour, with Angela Hewitt as soloist, the challenge was to stand out as one of the best orchestras in the world despite being relatively unknown. I think we did so with their unexpected energy and the evident joy they have of playing together.’

The inspiration clearly went both ways, as they were invited back for the 2023/24 season by IMG Artists London, joined by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Guildford, London, Cheltenham, Edinburgh and Dublin and Mihály Berecz in Croydon. Critics noted especially that Keller’s background as a chamber musician shaped a particular instinct for musical detail.

Keller himself acknowledges this influence. ‘A quartet cannot play well if the musicians do not know all the parts thoroughly. Only by endlessly polishing them together can the pieces be made to sound authentic,’ he explains. ‘In the case of an orchestra, the key is having them learn the entire musical fabric in detail, so that they can hear it and experience it together as if they were creating the piece at that moment. This is the greatest adventure in the world!’

Adventure maybe, but it has been a long road for Keller, who describes the orchestra he inherited in 2007 as ‘a disintegrating ensemble in a seemingly hopeless situation, on the verge of disbanding.’

Angela Hewitt and András Keller – Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra's 2022 UK tour 

Keller himself brought a unique perspective, as violinist, concertmaster, chamber player and conductor. He is familiar in the UK for his Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Award nomination in 2006, while in Hungary he has received the state’s highest arts award, the Kossuth Prize, in 2021. With these credentials, he has helped transform the orchestra so that, in his words, ‘today it is dynamic, flexible, sensitive and enchanting. I think I can get the best out of my musicians when they can always feel, alongside my strictness, the great love I have for them. This means that every day I have to learn to patiently accept what I have – and to continue to build tirelessly.’

Build they have. Aside from touring, one of the key ways Concerto Budapest is trying to seize international attention is through streaming, programmed by Keller and directed by Szabó-Stein. On this, the ensemble has led the way in Europe in terms of audience size and broadcast quality. It began in 2019 with their all-day contemporary music festival ‘Day of Listening’, working with New York-based The Violin Channel; this had a 400,000-strong global audience. Then, with access through the top Hungarian news site Index.Hu, 240,000 people watched their ‘Beethoven Day’ in 2020. It’s this partnership that strikes me as particularly forward-thinking; the UK equivalent would be a British orchestra streaming their concert via the BBC News website. It’s not just livestreaming, but mainstreaming.

The numbers speak for themselves. With three ‘Mozart Day’ streams, ‘Viva La Viola!’, ‘Listen To Brahms!’, two more ‘Day Of Listening’ live broadcasts and many individual concert streams since, around 2.5 million people have been reached. The audience of this is international, mostly from the US, UK, continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand, besides the Hungarian majority.

They’ve also developed partnerships with MEZZO TV. Their first venture won the Venice TV Awards Performing Art category in 2020; their 2022 film ‘Carpathian Rhapsody’ scooped the Silver Tower of the 2022 New York Festivals TV&Film Awards.

Concerto Budapest & Gidon Kremer - Kremerata Baltica premier on Mezzo TV from Concerto Budapest on Vimeo.

Stein acknowledges the challenging dynamics of filming classical music, placing as it does a filming director in a strongly collaborative space with the conductor, and seeking to always strike a balance between a compelling visual offer and serving (not distracting from) the music. ‘It is very hard to work closely with an orchestra, to find equilibrium and remember the most important mission: the music at the concert,’ Stein explains. ‘You need a great orchestra and an open-minded conductor. I try to use many film-like movements and dramatic close-ups, but always keeping faithful to the inner flow of the composition.’

A central focus for Concerto Budapest’s regular streams are their trademark themed mini-festivals. Every season, they organise these thematic festivals spotlighting a composer, genre or instrument, all under the artistic direction of András Keller. It’s these unique one or two-day festivals that first helped the ensemble to stand out in Hungary.

András Keller (photo: Andrea Felvégi)

One theme has come back again and again. Keller devised the idea of a Mozart Day back in 2018, with a day-long series of concerts exploring an aspect of his work. March 2024 will put the focus on his writing for brass and woodwind; wind quartets, his concerto for clarinet and for horn, overtures and much else will be represented across four consecutive concerts. For this, Concerto Budapest will be joined by a stellar international line-up of soloists; among them will be two Berlin Philharmonic players, their Principal Horn player Stefan Dohr and Principal Clarinet, Wenzel Fuchs. Also joining will be the Keller Quartet; András Schiff collaborator and founder of the Engegård Quartet, Arvid Engegård; and popular Hungarian pianist Gergely Bogányi.

Concerto Budapest at MUPA (photo: Hrotko Balint)

Keller has a close connection with Mozart. ‘Sándor Végh was one of my great mentors. I think he was perhaps the greatest performer of Mozart of the 20th century. The naturalness with which he made music is difficult to express in words. He simply illuminated the works the way that Mozart might have imagined them. That is my aim too.’ This is especially important for the conductor, since to him Mozart is the pinnacle: ‘his music brings back Paradise Lost, for he was able to show the wonder of human existence in sound. Both joy and pain are expressed in his works in a sublime, yet simple and natural way. If we embrace his music, we may find peace.’

So, mini-festivals, pioneering streams and partnerships, and a regular sprinkling of Mozart: these are the magic ingredients that have helped build an orchestra on the world stage, whose star is on the rise. Keller acknowledges that, ultimately, the key ingredient is passion: ‘The greatest merit of this orchestra is the tremendous heart with which it plays its concerts, like the three musketeers: “All for one and one for all!” This is what I am proudest of.’

The Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra’s Mozart Day 2024 takes place on Sunday, March 3 at Budapest’s Liszt Academy. The evening finale concert will be livestreamed via Gramophone in a special new partnership from 6.30 pm GMT; during the interval, there will also be a specially made film featuring interviews with artists from throughout the day.

Detailed programme here: concertobudapest.hu