Orchestra of St. Luke's
Now in its 37th season, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's foremost and
most versatile ensembles. Dedicated to engaging audiences throughout New York City and
beyond, OSL performs approximately 70 orchestral, chamber, and educational concerts each
year-including an annual orchestra series at Carnegie Hall, an annual chamber music series
at The Morgan Library & Museum and Brooklyn Museum, and summer concerts as
orchestra-in-residence at the Caramoor International Music Festival. OSL's principal
conductor is Pablo Heras-Casado.
OSL collaborates regularly with the world's great artists, such as Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo
Ma, Jessye Norman, Anna Netrebko, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mark Morris Dance Group, Peter
Gabriel, Sting, Elton John, and many more. Committed to community building, OSL produces
free concerts in each of the five boroughs of New York City, and has engaged more than one
million children in its arts education programs. OSL's stellar discography of more than 70
recordings includes four acclaimed releases on its own label, St. Luke's Collection, and
four Grammy Award-winning recordings. OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works and
performed more than 150 world, US, and New York premieres.
In March 2011, OSL opened The DiMenna Center for Classical Music-its first permanent home,
and New York City's first rehearsal and recording facility dedicated to classical music.
The center has already hosted thousands of musicians from a wide range of ensembles and
serves as the venue for OSL's new free concert series, OSL@DMC, which connects the public
to the artistic process of composers and musicians.
Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer has been music director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra since he founded
the celebrated ensemble in 1983-one of today's great success stories. As a guest conductor,
Mr. Fischer works with the world's finest symphony orchestras. He has been invited to
conduct the Berliner Philharmoniker more than 10 times, and devotes two weeks every year to
the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He was principal guest conductor and principal conductor
of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, from 2006 to 2009. He has also
appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras,
Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Fischer's opera engagements
have included the Vienna State Opera, Glyndebourne, and the Opera National de Lyon, where
he was music director from 2000 to 2003. In August 2011, he performed and directed Don
Giovanni at the Mostly Mozart Festival.
Mr. Fischer's intense international touring with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and his
more than 50 highly acclaimed recordings with the ensemble for Philips and Channel
Classics, have contributed to his reputation as one of the world's most visionary and
successful orchestra leaders. In August 2012, he adds a new post to his worldwide schedule,
becoming music director of the Konzerthaus Berlin and principal conductor of the
Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Mr. Fischer studied piano, violin, and cello, and is an active
composer. He is a founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society and Patron of the British Kodály
Academy. He received the Golden Medal Award from the President of the Republic of Hungary,
the Kossuth Prize, the Royal Philharmonic Award, the Crystal Award from the World Economic
Forum, and the Dutch Ovatie prize. He has been named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by
the French Government, an honorary citizen of Budapest, and an Ambassador of Hungarian
Culture.