Máté Bella and Alessio Elia are the winners of the 2013 UMZF Composition Competition
In the third New Hungarian Musical Forum Composition Competition the first place in chamber music category went to an assistant lecturer of the Liszt Academy, while its postdoctoral student won in the full symphony orchestra category.
In the history of the competition, which is open for all, national and expatriate, Hungarian composers under the age of 40, this year saw the most candidates. Of the 39 works, 20 were chamber music pieces and 19 were pieces for full orchestra, including five compositions from across the border. This year the competition organized by the Budapest Music Center (BMC) and the Palace of Arts was dedicated to the memory of György Ligeti. 4 pieces were selected into the finals from each of the two categories.
The finals in chamber music category were held on 25th September 2013, followed by the full orchestra finals the next day. The jury then announced the results for each category, the winners of a competition worth more than 3 million forints in awards.
"We deliberated on the relationship between the young composers and György Ligeti's intellectuality, on how innovative they are and how professional their composing skills are, in the interest of further performances," said Péter Eötvös, president of the jury, at the awards.
Máté Bella, who was also a NHMF winner in 2009, came in first place with Trance and Péter Tornyai, a Liszt Academy doctoral student, came in second with his composition titled Cordes á vide. The two of them also won the Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation special awards. Gergely Máté Balogh, also of the Liszt Academy, and Alessio Elia tied for third place.
In the full orchestra category, Alessio Elia's composition titled Rejtett dimenziók (Hidden Dimensions) won the first prize, while Balázs Horváth, Liszt Academy professor, came in second with his dieReAlisierung einer komPosition. László Sándor was awarded third place, as well as the Palace of Arts special award. Category-winner Alessio Elia had been Zoltán Jeney's student at the Liszt Academy where he is now continuing his postdoctoral studies.
The MTVA (Media Services and Support Trust Fund) will be presenting a composition from each of the two 1st place winners in their contemporary music series next spring. The Universal Music Publishing-Editio Musica Budapest will be releasing and promoting Máté Bella's chamber and Balázs Horváth's full orchestra compositions.