Iván Fischer is the founder and Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, as well as the Honorary Conductor of the Konzerthaus and Konzerthausorchester Berlin. He also spends two weeks every year with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and is a frequent guest at the Berlin and New York Philharmonic Orchestras. Previously he served as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra Washington and the Opera National de Lyon, among others. In recent years he has also gained a reputation as a composer.