Orfeo Orchestra

The Orfeo Orchestra was founded in Budapest in 1991 by György Vashegyi, taking its name from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, after the ensemble presented the first complete performance of this opera in Hungary. The orchestra consists of professional musicians with experience in Hungary as well as on the international scene, either as members of the orchestra or as instrumental soloists. The Orfeo Orchestra is the most authentic exponent of classical music in Hungary and it has given many first performances on period instruments under the baton of György Vashegyi. Between 2002 and 2007 the ensemble performed the first eighty symphonies composed by Haydn as part of Mr. Vashegyi’s own concert series (at Esterházy Palace), enabling these to be heard there for the first time since the 18th century with the same number of musicians, on period instruments, as Haydn himself used to perform them. The names of the Orfeo Orchestra and the Purcell Choir have now become inseparably linked with that of Mr. Vashegyi, who can rightly be described as the outstanding exponent of classical and early music in Hungary and the person who has revitalized these works this country.