"Programmatic ingenuity goes hand in hand with Fischer's ebullient and finely crafted performances". So when someone says that about you, you have earned a prize. So that is what the jury of formerly the Classical Music Prize thought of Iván Fischer, the Hungarian-born conductor who was therefore awarded the 'Ovation' on Monday 17 October 2011. And so the 'Ovation' is a prize, consisting of a statuette by Iris Le Rütte (no relation) and not that event where people stand up after a concert and clap their hands or grab their coats or both.
What the jury thought of Ivan Fischer? The report said the following:
"Under the title The Secret, Iván Fischer led the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra last season. The programme included the concert performance of the third act of Wagner's Lohengrin, combined with Béla Bartók's opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle.The exceptional success of the performances was based on several factors; Fischer has a special talent for building thematic programmes. In addition, he is able to bring singers to great performances. His rehearsal technique - with which he encourages musicians to play with an almost chamber music-like attitude - also bore fruit. Three magical performances were the result. In the same season, Fischer underlined his qualities with distinctive Wagner programmes in Vredenburg and Muziekgebouw Eindhoven. Earlier that year, Fischer had visited the Concertgebouw with his own Budapest Festival Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent and the soprano Sibylla Rubens. The programme, which included works by Arvo Pärt, Béla Bartók and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, made a great impression because of Fischer's insight into the so different compositions and the delicacy with which he approached each in his own unique way."
The jury of the Ovation 2011 consists of chairman Gabriël Oostvogel (director of Concert and Congress Hall de Doelen Rotterdam); Yvonne van den Berg (programmer of classical music, De Oosterpoort Groningen); Frank Veenstra (artistic director Muziekcentrum Frits Philips Eindhoven); Jan Raes (general director Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra); Henk Swinnen (artistic
leader Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra); Bela Luttmer (music journalist); Simon Reynink (director Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Tino Haenen (director Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
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