The Győr Phil as participant at a prestigious international festival
GYPO recently had the feat to have been the orchestra chosen to perform at the Herbstgold Festival on September 26, 2026, and give the final concert of the reputable event at the Esterházy Palace of Kismarton (Eisenstadt), Austria. Our company had the good fortune to perform with two world-famous classical music celebrities, violinist/conductor Julian Rachlin, and piano virtuoso Alexander Malofeev. The much applauded program included two of the staple repertoire pieces of their respective genres.
Raised and studied in Austria, Lithuanian-born violinist/conductor, Julian Rachlin has worked with some of the world’s most significant orchestras during his already four-decade-long career. Both as a soloist and conductor he is a regular performer with various chamber groups as well as symphony orchestras. His activities also include the organizing of large musical festivals like the Herbstgold Festival in Eisenstadt. Mr. Rachlin had been the artistic director of this festival since 2021 and in the light of the tremendous successes his achievements so far were beyond expectations.
Rehearsals for the festival-closing performance began at Richter Hall, Győr, on September 21. Mr. Rachlin is an avid promoter of the idea that a symphony orchestra must always be open to new impressions, experiences, novel approaches especially when working with a new conductor.
“I found myself in a rather inspiring environment here in Győr. The ensemble is decidedly resilient and dedicated to making progress with whatever is being rehearsed” -said Mr. Rachlin about his first impressions on GYPO.
The conductor of the concert has attributed the well-received final product to the members’ ability to listen carefully to his instructions as well as to each other.
“Every quality orchestra expects the conductor to have strong ideas about the pieces at hand and be able to put them across in a clear and articulated manner. Tschaikowsky’s symphony number 6 can obviously be performed in many different ways. Perfect performances do not exist in our profession and every conductor has his unique knowledge and style just like every orchestra has its own sound and style too. What matters is listening to one another, meeting somewhere in the middle and finding common grounds.”
The venue of the Herbstgold Festival has incidentally a very special place in music history. The Haydn Hall of the Esterházy Palace is part of a group of buildings in Eisenstadt (Kismarton), Austria, where composer Joseph Haydn had worked for over four decades as the noble family’s music director, entertainer, composer, and orchestra conductor.
This festival has by now attracted music lovers from all over the greater regions of Burgenland, Kismarton, Hungary, and Vienna, while tourists from as far as Italy, the USA, and even from Asia come specifically to the Herbstgold Festival in increasing numbers every year. According to Mr. Rachlin, apart from high-level performances the place’s unique atmosphere and history greatly contribute to the growing attendance of the festival.
Our concert on September 26 began with Rhapsody number 2 by Franz Liszt. The choice of this piece was symbolic as the nearby-born Liszt as a child is known to have played at the Esterházy Palace himself.
Piano concerto in B flat minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tschaikowsky followed next in the program. Soloist was pianist Alexander Malofeev born in Russia in 2001. Despite his young age Mr. Malofeev has already steadily worked his way into international concert life and gave performances at the world’s greatest concert halls. Mr. Rachlin and he had already made music together for the first time a few months before this presentation.
The second half of the concert had Tschaikowsky’s grand symphony number 6, “the Pathetique” in offer. The work’s intense and personal nature was indeed a perfect conclusive performance at the festival and thus became an organic part of the Herbstgold Festival’s musical concepts
This well-received, highly applauded concert was a tremendously important moment in GYPO’s history as the company lays special emphasis to make international appearances in increasing numbers. General director Géza Fűke indicated that the GYPO does by now not only offer music and entertainment to its greater Győr audiences but sets its sights to represent the culture of Hungarian music at faraway stages abroad also. The city of Győr has been musically associated with legendary, world-renown conductors like Arthur Nikisch, and János Richter while the orchestra has also performed together with a great number of internationally acclaimed soloists and conductors in the past decades.
Our Kismarton concert at the Haydn Hall of the Esterházy Palace on September 26, 2026, continued these traditions in beautiful style even though we were temporarily renamed the “West Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra.”