Fischer, Ádám

Fischer, Ádám, Hungarian conductor, brother of Ivan Fischer; b. Budapest, Sept. 9, 1949. He studied at the Bela Bartok Cons, in Budapest, and then took conducting courses with Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music and with Ferrara in Venice and Siena (1970–71). In 1971–72 he was an asst. conductor in Graz. In 1972–73 he was chief conductor in St. Polten. He won 1^st prize in the Cantelli Competition in Milan in 1973. After serving as an asst. conductor at the Vienna State Opera (1973–74), he was a conductor at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki from 1974 to 1977. From 1977 to 1979 he held the position of 1st conductor at the Karlsruhe Opera. In 1980 he made his first appearance at the Salzburg Festival, and in 1981 he made his U.S. debut at the San Francisco Opera conducting Don Giovanni. From 1981 to 1984 he was Generalmusikdirektor in Freiburg im Breisgau. In 1984 he conducted Der Rosenkavalier at his first appearance at the Paris Opera, and in 1986 he made his debut at Milan’s La Scala conducting Die Zauberflote. From 1987 to 1992 he was Generalmusikdirektor in Kassel. He also founded the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, and served as music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orch. In 1989 he made his debut at London’s Covent Garden conducting Die Fledermaus. He returned to London in 1991 to make his first appearance at the English National Opera with Bluebeard’s Castle. On April 14, 1994, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. conducting Otello. He also appeared as a guest conductor with major orchs. on both sides of the Atlantic.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire