Máté Bella (*1985)

Biography

Máté Bella (*1985) is one of the few composers who became a significant character of the Hungarian music scene before turning 35. His contemporary compositions are played by prominent international orchestras, his popular music tunes are favourites of several radio stations and his musical theatre pieces are performed on the stages of the most distinguished theatres in the country. His seemingly far-reaching activity originates from the recognition of how to grab the attention of the audience within seconds. Máté considers it his mission to integrate Generation Y and Z into the classical music scene. The imprint of his work so far is a musical melting pot that contains pieces composed with a new mind-set, meanwhile preserving the essence of different genres.

He graduated in 2011 from the Liszt Academy with a degree in Music Composition as the student of prof. Gyula Fekete. For a semester in 2013 he studied in the class of prof. Wojciech Widłak at the Academy of Music in Krakow on an Erasmus scholarship. In 2014 he won a scholarship from the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation for a year, and in 2017 he was sponsored from the scholarship of the New National Excellence Program.

He is one of the founders of the Studio 5 contemporary composer group, founded in 2016. He received his Summa Cum Laude DLA doctoral degree in 2018. Currently he is a Senior Lecturer at the Liszt Academy, moreover he is a member of the Artisjus Committee of Classical Music Critics, the Association of Hungarian Composers and the composer section of the Hungarian Film Academy Association.

Several Hungarian and international orchestras play his pieces, such as the Ensemble InterContemporain, the London Sinfonietta, the Ensemble Modern, the Münchener Kammerorchester, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Doelen Ensemble, the UMZE Chamber Ensemble or the Budapest Festival Orchestra. His theatre music is performed in the Hungarian National Theatre, Vígszínház, the Budapest Operetta Theatre, the Budapest Puppet Theatre and the Hungarian State Opera.

Amongst his competition achievements and awards the Junior Prima Award, the Erkel Ferenc Award and the Bartók-Pásztory Award are the most outstanding ones.