After his remarkable debut performances in Szeged, Budapest and Salzburg ......

....  and his guest appearances in various European countries and in America, Ferenc Fricsay’s fame as an enthralling and extremely precise interpreter of detail and tempi and as a talented orchestral educator, soon spread across Germany.

He was appointed Chief Conductor of the RIAS-Orchestra Berlin and the Städtischen Oper Berlin. As their conductor and musical adviser, he inaugurated the Deutsche Oper Berlin with “Don Giovanni”, and the rebuilt Cuvillié-Theatre München with “Le Nozze di Figaro”. Many of his 200 recordings are still considered exemplary.

Ferenc Fricsay was one of the first to seized the new medium of television for concerts and also to record his rehearsals.

                                                                                           

He didn’t do this for his own publicity, but rather that he hoped for a broader public to be able to participate and appreciate symphonic music.

He was a specialist for the music of Mozart and Beethoven, but also a highly estimated trustee and untiring advocate of the works of his countrymen, Bartòk and Kodàly, whom he had known and worked with.

Owing to the incredible scope of Fricsay’s activities one might forget how short his life really was.

                                                                                                 Alexander Pereira                                                                                     (Director of the Opera House Zurich)