Balázs HORVÁTH
Balázs HORVÁTH was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1976. He studied composition at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest with Zoltán Jeney. He received his doctorate degree in composition at the same Academy in 2005, while teaching there as a senior lecturer. He also visited music seminars lead by Bryan Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Marco Stroppa, Louis Andriessen, Péter Eötvös, Karlheinz Stockhausen and László Tihanyi.
Horváth’s compositions won prizes at composition competitions. He received 1st Prize for POLY at the ‘In Memoriam György Ligeti’ composition competition in Berlin (2007) and 1st and 2nd prizes at different categories of the 2nd New Hungarian Music Forum, Budapest (2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2020).
He was awarded twice with the Benedek Istvánffy Award (2004, 2007) and also got the Ferenc Erkel Award in 2007.
Horváth’s compositions are performed at international music events such as the Budapest Spring Festival, Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam), ISCM World Music Days (Ljubljana, Göteborg, Zagreb, Tongyeong), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Music in Current (Tokyo), musikprotokoll (Graz), cresc. Biennale für Neue Musik (Frankfurt), the Transparent Sound New Music Festival (Budapest), the Taiwan International Music Festival (Taipei) etc.
As a composer he worked with reknown conductors and ensembles such as Péter Eötvös, Gregory Vajda, Pierre-André Valade, Amadinda Percussion Group, Ensemble Modern, Göteborg Symfoniker, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Sinfonietta, RSO Wien, Ensemble UMZE, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, New Juilliard Ensemble.
Horváth is founder and artistic leader of THReNSeMBLe that performs contemporary music. The ensemble united with Ensemble UMZE in 2019. Since that year Horváth is chair of UMZE Association. As board member of Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation he often teaches at the workshops of the Foundation.
Horváth is founder and co-curator of Transparent Sound New Music Festival in Budapest with Samu Gryllus.
The previous years he is interested in the combination possibilities of popular and serious music and integrating theatrical elements into music.