The Hungarian Radio Art Groups’ 2025/2026 concert programme was presented by the Art Groups’ newly appointed General Music Director Domonkos Héja at Ernő Dohnányi Music Centre. The repertoire for this coming season includes monumental concerts, premieres of contemporary pieces, chamber concerts and also performances appealing to younger audiences. Artists performing in this season feature popular Hungarian performers and foreign guest artists. The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Choir of the Hungarian National Radio and the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir will certainly guarantee the unique music experience at these musical events.
“The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is Hungary’s finest orchestra as far as its sound harmony is concerned. The Orchestra boasts a sound tradition that is unparalleled in its home country. It is a joy and an honour for me to have been appointed at the helm of an Art Group that cherishes more than 80 years of history and one that I hold in high professional regard,” said the Hungarian Radio Art Groups’ new General Music Director Domonkos Héja, who was appointed as of 1st May 2025.
Domonkos Héja is a Franz Liszt Award, Gundel Art Award and Junior Prima Music Award winning conductor, who is a frequent guest conductor, among others, at the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra Košice, the Macedonian Philharmonic, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonisches Orchester Berlin, and the MDR Symphony Orchestra. From 2005 to 2012, he was Principal Resident Conductor of the Chemnitz Opera House, where he conducted highly successful concerts of classical operas. Between 2011 and 2013, he was Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Hungarian State Opera, and in 2015 he was appointed Music Director of the Staats Theater Augsburg.
2025/2026 SEASON PROGRAMME BOOKLET NOW OUT
Distinguished guests of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s 2025/2026 season includes world-renowned and extravagant flutist Erik Boosgraf, who will perform pieces by Baroque composers, as well as British conductor Howard Williams, who will perform an English musical evening jointly with the Orchestra. In the next season, the Orchestra’s Italian Principal Conductor Riccardo Frizza, who has achieved reputation with productions featuring outstanding soloists, will perform large-scale works by Mahler, Bartók, Brahms and Liszt, among others.
“It gives me great pleasure to return to Budapest in the next season to continue my joint work with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the Hungarian National Radio, with whom I performed numerous concerts over the past three years and also gave a successful tour in the United Kingdom,” said Principal Conductor Riccardo Frizza.
Wagner’s song cycle and Bruckner’s grand-scale symphony will be conducted by János Kovács with the participation of Atala Schöck. In addition, the audience will also be able to listen to works by Sibelius, Dvořak and Tchaikovsky to be performed by the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by female conductor Delyana Lazarova and featuring outstanding young violin soloist Lilia Pocitari.
In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Choir of the Hungarian National Radio, a Jubilee Oratorio Season Ticket is offered, which features Mendelssohn’s oratorio entitled Paulus and three oratorial compositions by three Hungarian composers.
A novelty is the Hungarian Radio Art Groups’ Youth Season Ticket, which in previous years was introduced to the general public through free concerts and has so far introduced thousands of young students to the world of classical music. The concerts, which are seasoned with playful introductions, will now be held at Ernő Dohnányi Music Centre located in Budapest’s city centre. Just like in previous seasons, the repertoire will include engaging concerts for children: the Children’s Choir will entertain the youngest members of the audience and their families with programmes staged for St. Nicholas Day, the carnival season, and Mother’s Day.
Tickets and season tickets are available at: https://mrme.jegy.hu/?lang=en.