Pannon Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra in Pécs, a regional center of science, arts, including music. The predecessor of the today's ensemble was founded in 1811 by György Lickl, a Viennese composer. The orchestra of Pécs, boasting over 200 years of history, has been going through a spectacular improvement for one and a half decades, making it a dominant orchestra and brand of the country. Since 2010, Pannon Philharmonic has been a resident orchestra of the Kodály Centre, a concert hall boasting the best acoustics in Hungary. The orchestra has not only met success in Pécs; they had a series of sold-out performances in Budapest at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall since the opening of the Müpa, and also performed in the most significant concert halls of European capitals from Zürich through Vienna to the Grand Concert Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. The Pannon Philharmonic has been invited to participate in the long-established Musik der Meister series of the Viennese Musikverein on 31 October. Of all Hungarian symphony orchestras, it is the Pannon Philharmonic under the baton of chief conductor Tibor Bogányi, who was first offered to participate in a concert series in this prestigious concert hall. After the European Capital of Culture and the Hungarian capital, the ensemble will take up the challenge on the stage of the capital of music. It is a true breakthrough in the history of Hungarian music that the Pécs-based orchestra will have the opportunity to perform in the Grand Hall of the Musikverein on six occasions altogether, within the framework of the long-standing Musik der Meister series between October 2021 and June 2023. As the director of the series pointed out, the groundwork of the invitation was the orchestra’s reliably high standard and quality, which is of primary significance for the cultivated and musically indulged Viennese audience.

The head of the orchestra is Zsolt Horváth, a trumpet artist and economist graduated from the Vienna Music Academy and the University of Pécs respectively, who has been leading the Pannon Philharmonic for one and a half decades. The director, 15 years ago, set up the possible cornerstones of development within Hungary, studying the operational elements and structural features and market operation of European top-class symphony orchestras, and implemented the project with a professional management in accordance with the conscious company building of the respective art managements. The number of tickets sold by the band has been increased by more than a hundred times as compared to the number of pre-renewal period and the number of season tickets sold is more than five times more than earlier, while the art and professional prestige of Pannon Philharmonic stand out with the biggest domestic orchestras.

Former chief conductors of our ensemble were Zsolt Hamar (2000-2009), Zoltán Peskó (2009-2011), Tibor Bogányi (2011-2023) and Gilbet Varga (2019-2021). The chief conductor of Pannon Philharmonic is Gergely Kesselyák. The orchestra has worked with András Vass as permanent conductor since 2009, the first permanent guest conductor of the orchestra is Tibor Bogányi. The first permanent guest conductor of the Pannon Philharmonic was the Musical Director of the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Zoltán Kocsis, who loved, nourished and esteemed the PFZ as his very own second ensemble for over a decade, until 2016.

The orchestra regularly works with the most prominent Hungarian artists, including Gergely Bogányi, Dezső Ránki, Miklós Perényi, István Várdai, Kristóf Baráti, Barnabás Kelemen, Erika Miklósa, Éva Marton, Gábor Tarkóvi, Péter Eötvös, Jenő Jandó, Dénes Várjon, György Vashegyi, Péter Frankl – for the mutual satisfaction of the parties involved. In addition to the independent concerts of the orchestra, Pannon Philharmonic has been regularly invited to the most important Hungarian festivals such as the Bartók Miskolc Plus Opera festival or the Budapest Spring Festival. For many years they have been a permanent partner of the Budapest Festival Orchestra Marathon series and one of the founders of the Armel Operafestival based on extensive international collaboration, where the orchestra have performed a number of award-winning productions.

The professional standards represented by Pannon Philharmonic and its Europaean-minded are management is confirmed by internationally renowned artists. The regular partners of the orchestra include such high-profile artists of the international music scene as Maxim Vengerov, Krzysztof Pendereczki, Leopold Hager, Mischa Maisky, Fazil Say, Roby Lakatos, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Xavier de Maistre, Sharon Kam, Jonathan Cohen, Akiko Suwanai, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Andrej Gavrilov, Olari Elts, Gilbert Varga, Ivan Repusic, Riccardi Frizza, Dejan Lazić, and Nebojša Jovan Živković.

During their resident composer and soloist programs, they worked with such outstanding artists as Sándor Balassa, Levente Gyöngyösi, László Dubrovay, Gergely Bogányi, or Benjamin Schmid. The latter has made several CD recordings with the orchestra. Pannon Philharmonic is a regular co-production partner for Müpa, where they have performed with outstanding artists such as Jessica Pratt and Anja Harteros, and during the International Domingo Festival, they give joint summer concerts in Pécs with the opera singers of the New York Metropolitan Opera.

The orchestra offers events to people of all ages, from the babies to the elderly. It also attracts young people to its concerts by providing innovative projects to them, while its own Festival Choir also provides excellent performance worthy of international prizes in Baroque music. The orchestra, boasting excellent direct and personal relationship with its audience, is extremely popular in the capital as well, while it has also established fruitful collaborations with the major stakeholders, associations and institutions in the city of Pécs.

The orchestra was the Ambassador of Pécs 2010 in the European Capital of Culture programme. In the Armel Opera Competition and Festival in 2015, the ensemble was awarded with a special prize for their outstanding musical performance, while in 2016 they contributed to the opening performance of the award-winning Eötvös opera, and in 2017 they were involved in the staging of the winning performance of the People's Choice Award of the festival. In the autumn of 2017, the Pannon Philharmonic and the Festival Choir of the Orchestra were honoured for the most prestigious production of the 47th Baroque Evenings in Varaždin.