Hungarian National Symphony Orchestra

Szeged's orchestra is bound to one conductor above all others. Ferenc Fricsay directed it for ten years early in his career, before Berlin and the gramophone made his name international, and the ensemble now lends itself to the competition founded in his memory: each candidate conducts it in full instrumentation, in rounds held at the Korzó Music Hall and the Szeged National Theatre. The second edition of that competition took place in the late summer of 2025, under the patronage of Fricsay's daughter. For the remainder of the year the orchestra is Szeged's own, playing in the same two rooms and serving a city whose musical life has long looked south and east as much as towards Budapest.