About me

Máté BALOGH

Hungarian Composer – Assistant Professor at Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest

I was born in 1990 in Győr, a city on the western side of Hungary, into a musical family. In 2005 I was offered a place at the Conservatory of Pécs, from which I graduated in 2009. There I specialised in the theory of music and composition under the direction of István Győrffy. I then completed my studies in composition at the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest, under Zoltán Jeney, in 2014. In 2013 I spent a semester in Trieste, Italy, where I studied composition with Fabio Nieder following which I spent a year working under the mentorship of Pétér Eötvös.

In 2019 I was awarded a doctoral DLA degree from the Franz Liszt Academy where I currently hold a post of Assistant Professor in the Music Theory Department (2014 – present) and in the International Kodály Institute, Kecskemét (2017 – 2023). For the academic year 2021 – 2022 I was composer-in-residence with the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra and prior to that, up until 2018, I was Editor-in-Chief of the Universal Music Publishing Editio Musica Budapest where I was mainly working on the works of György Kurtág. I have also been invited as a guest lecturer to the Alabama University (United States of America), Shanghai Conservatory (China), Mendelssohn Academy (Germany), and the Conservatorio di Trieste (Italy).

My pieces have been performed throughout Europe as well as in China, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, Canada and the United States of America. Additionally, my music has been included at many international festivals, such as: ManiFest (IRCAM – Paris), ECCO Concert Series (Brussels), Milano Musica (Milan), MicroFest (Prague), Open Recorder Days (Amsterdam), Secret Kiss (Tokyo), Opus Amadeus (Istanbul), Kurtág & Ungarn (Bern), Listening to China (Shanghai), Ostrava Days (Ostrava), Axes Kraków (Cracow) and, most notably in Hungary, Festival Academy, Café Budapest, St. Gellert Festival, Bartók Szeminárium, Korunk Zenéje, Budapest Spring Festival, Minifesztivál, Átlátszó Hang Fesztivál and Artrium Festival.

Among others I have enjoyed working with Max Brand Ensemble, Stadler Quartet (Austria), Sturm und Klang Ensemble (Belgium), Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, The Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra (China), Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Ostravská Banda (Czech Republic), Asasello Quartet, Ensemble Hartmann21, Ensemble Mozaik, Trio d’Iroise (Germany), Alter Ego Ensemble (Italy), Slovenian National Choir (Slovenia), Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, JACK Quartet (United States of America) as well as Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Strings, Classicus Quartet, Concerto Budapest, Danubia Orchestra, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Hungarian National Choir, Győr Philharmonic Orchestra, Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and UMZE Chamber Orchestra (Hungary).

His pieces are published by Universal Music Publishing Editio Musica Budapest, Universal Edition (Vienna) and Impronta Edition (Mannheim, Germany).

WORKS:

Please click on link https://baloghmate.com/works/

AWARDS, PRIZES:

  • 2023: Honorable mention, Free Range Composer Competition, with ‘Bahnmusik’ (London)
  • 2023: One of the four winners of RenMus Project, associated with renewability and sustainability in contemporary music (Warsaw – Prague – Bratislava – Budapest)
  • 2023: Artisjus Prize, The Piece of the Year, with ‘Sinfonia No.1’ (Budapest)
  • 2023: 1st. Prize, ’MicroFest Prague’ Composer Competition with ’Horn Speech 2023’
  • One of the 15 winners of ’Fifteen-Minutes-Of-Fame’ with Satmar Song (Washington D.C.)
  • 2022: 3rd. Prize, Fanfare Competition, Veszprém Cultural Capital of Europe (Veszprém).
  • 2022: Franz Erkel Prize, prestigious award for composition by the Hungarian State (Budapest).
  • 2021: 5th. Prize, Gilgamesh Composer Competition, with ‘Gilgamesh-Recitations’ (Los Angeles).
  • 2021: 3rd. Prize, II. Impronta Composer Competition, with ‘Der Rhein am Tomasse’ (Mannheim).
  • 2020: Salvatore Quasimodo Prize, awarded for incorporating literature into music  (Balatonfüred).
  • 2020: ‘Support Excellence’ Prize, Central European String Quartet’s Composer Competition (Budapest).
  • 2020: 3rd. Prize, GENERACE Composer Competion (Ostrava).
  • 2019: Fidelio 50 Prize, Classical Music Category (Budapest).
  • 2018: Film score for Zsófia Szilágyi’s award-winning film, ‘One Day’, (Cannes Film Festival).
  • 2018: Junior Prima Prize, awarded for outstanding achievement in composition (Budapest).
  • 2018: 2nd. Prize, ‘Beethoven in Buda’ Composer Competition (Budapest).
  • 2017: 1st. Prize, UMZF Competition ‘Pseudomarsch’ (Budapest).
  • 2016: Artisjus Prize (Best Junior Classical-Composer of the Year) (Budapest).
  • 2015, October: 1st. Prize, UMZF Competition with ensemble-piece, ‘Melodiemusik’ and 2nd. Prize, orchestral piece, ‘Quintet’ (Budapest).
  • 2015, May: Selected composer, Fondazione Spinola Banna (Milan).
  • 2015, April: Honorary award, GENERACE Composer Competition with ‘The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart’ (Ostrava).
  • 2015, February: One of the winners of ECCO concert series of the European Composers’ and Songwriters’ Alliance (Brussels).
  • 2013, September: 3rd. Prize, UMZF Composer Competition with ensemble-piece, ‘Notturni a L’ (Budapest).
  • 2013, July: One of the winners of the ’Out at S.E.A.’ chamber-opera project managed by the Péter Eötvös Foundation (Budapest – Paris – Riga – Milan).
  • 2011: 1st. Prize, Composer Competition, Hungarian National Choir (Budapest).
  • 2010: 1st. Prize, Composition Competition, University of Theatre and Film (Budapest).
  • 2007: Student of the Year (Hajnóczy József Kollégium, Pécs).

PRINCIPAL PREMIERES:

  • 2023: ’Der Rhein am Tomasee’ (Hannover)
  • 2023: ‘Horn Speech 2023’ (Prague)
  • 2023: ’Jan Van Eyck’s Eight Reflections in the Arnolfini’ Convex Mirror’ (Amsterdam)
  • 2023: ’Song Book 2021’ (Dublin)
  • 2022: ’Symphony Nr. 1’ (Győr)
  • 2022: ’Little Harry Hughes’ (Paris)
  • 2021: ’Bahnmusik’ (Ostrava)
  • 2021: ’Matsuo Basho’s Song’ (Tokyo)
  • 2020: ‘Song for the Persecuted’ (London)
  • 2019: ’Dadamusik’ (Düsseldorf)
  • 2019: ’Alabama March’ (Huntsville, Alabama)
  • 2019: ’One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo’ (Tokyo)
  • 2018: ’Kipling’s Speech’ (Munich)
  • 2017: ’Odes’ (Beijing, Shanghai)
  • 2017: ’Jam Quartet’ (Zürich, Tonhalle)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS:

English (C2), Italian (B2), German (A2) and Chinese (Beijing Mandarin HSK1).