Founded in 1981, in Szombathely, Capella Savaria has earned its fame as the first period-instrument chamber orchestra of Hungary. Its innovative efforts created quite a sensation at the time in musical circles. The ensemble’s objectives were, from the onset, to play baroque and classical music in an authentic way by relying on genuine documents of the period.

The founding artistic director was Pál Németh, followed by Zsolt Kalló who has been directing the ensemble since 1999. The members of the ensemble play authentic 18th-century instruments, or their copies. Capella Savaria performs chamber and orchestral pieces as well as operas or oratorios. They have made over 90 recordings, issued by Hungaroton, Centaur Records, Quintana, Harmonia Mundi, Dynamic, Naxos, and Dorian Records, five of which have been awarded with the Hungarian “Record of the Year” prize. The conductor of their opera and passion series, Nicholas McGegan (the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor), has recorded 21 CDs with Capella Savaria.

Their CDs also include some genuine rarities such as Hungarian music from the 18th century and the works of Druschetzky, Roman, A. Scarlatti, B. Marcello, Telemann, Werner, Naudot, Rameau, Fasch and Muffat. They have given concerts in 22 European countries outside Hungary and have appeared in both the Northern and the Southern parts of the American continent and in Israel. They are regular participants of Hungarian early music festivals (in Sopron, Fertőd, Budapest, and Zemplén) but have featured such festivals in Brugge, Innsbruck, Regensburg, Göttingen, Halle, Utrecht, Zerbst, Warszawa, Wroclaw. They often perform on Hungarian TV and radio, and were awarded with the prestigious Liszt

Prize in 1991. On the 25th anniversary of the ensemble’s foundation in 2006 the chamber orchestra was honoured with the Prima Primissima Prize in Vas County.
The Canadian Opus Magazine has described Capella Savaria as “one of Europe’s best ensembles”.