Since his conducting debut with the orchestra in January 2016, Jörg Widmann and the Budapest Festival Orchestra have built a strong working relationship founded on mutual trust and inspiration. The orchestra say about Widmann: ​“The world-class clarinettist often draws inspiration from the music of the past, but with a natural ease and originality that render the outcome both familiar and at the same time surprisingly novel.“ The concerts on 4 and 5 June in Budapest featured Widmann’s Freie Stücke, his Con brio and 180 Beats per Minute for string sextet alongside Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 1. György Kurtág, the 95-year-old doyen of Hungarian composers, honoured both concerts with his presence and spent a long time in the conductor’s changing room afterwards making it an unforgettable experience.