As your Chief Conductor, I have had the privilege in just over a year to get to know you better from an artistic and personal perspective. I am proud of what we are doing, and certain that together we can achieve the ambitious goals that we have set ourselves. For this reason, I believe that the Jubilee celebrations for your first 80 years, and the special concert that we are giving on 19th December with the programme chosen by me and my colleagues Tamás Vásáry and János Kovács to show the world our value, are, for me too, something to take pride in and share. The time has come to state openly my respect for you and, before you all, members of the orchestra and choir, Radio management and the Hungarian audience who follow us with such passion, to reiterate the international interest in this project created in the difficult years of the Second World War thanks to the legendary Ernst von Dohnányi and developed through the ability and passion that you, as Hungarians, devote to music. My heartfelt wish is that you continue to pursue such artistic excellence and to give Hungarian music and culture the visibility it deserves