Hungary’s Crusading Conductor

Available for over a year

The head of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer, is using culture to expose growing racial intolerance in his homeland. The success of the extreme right wing party Jobbik in the 2010 elections prompted him to write an opera denouncing antisemitism. The one act opera The Red Heifer, draws on an incident 130 years ago when a young girl went missing in a village in north-east Hungary. Local Jews were accused of murdering the 14-year-old and were eventually acquitted but blood libel stories such as these still resonate more than a century later. But some have accused Fischer of cultural politicking and say he is in danger of besmirching the country’s image abroad. Lucy catches up with the composer as he rehearses for his next performance. (Photo: Hungarian composer Ivan Fischer. Credit: Marco Borggreve)