Biography
"...Horváth requires of his musicians versatility, virtuosity and an openness to unusual sounds." (Szabolcs Molnár)
Balázs HORVÁTH was born in Budapest in 1976. He started to play the violin at the age of seven at the Tóth Aladár Music School (Wambach Ferencné - violin, Margit Magyar - theory). He studied composition basics at the Béla Bartók Music Secondary School with István Fekete Győr and then at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest where he received his degree with honours (Summa cum Laude) in 1999. His professors included Zoltán Jeney, Attila Bozay, and János Vajda. He has finished his DLA in Composition at the Liszt Academy in 2005, while teaching there as well.
Horváth regularly appears at significant events of contemporary music. In summer 1994 he attended the Young Artists' Composition Program at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, lead by Dr. Richard Cornell, in 1997 the 3rd International Young Composers' Meeting in Apeldoorn, Holland and in September 2000 the Stockhausen Hymnen seminar lead by Péter Eötvös and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He also regularly participates in the Bartók Seminar, Szombathely, with such internationally renowned composers and conductors as Bryan Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Marco Stroppa, Denis Smalley and László Tihanyi. In 2003 he was an assistant of Michael Jarrell and Jonathan Harvey at the Bartók Seminar.
He was assistant of Péter Eötvös, Luca Francesconi and András Almási-Tóth at the chamber opera workshop "Out at SEA" in 2013 organized by the Péter Eötvös
Contamporary Music Foundation.
He won 2nd prize, Composers' Competition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest in 1997 and 1999, 3rd prize with at the Composition Competition of the city Kecskemét, Hungary in 1999, 2nd prize at the composers' contest of Vántus István Társaság, Szeged in 2002 (Contraindications) and 2006 (Waiting for...).
His Timesongs was selected as a finalist at the 17th ALEA III International Composition Competition, Boston, USA, and was performed on the 2nd October 1999 in Boston.
In 2000 Petrus-Passio won the main prize of the competition "Megváltás" in the Hungarian city of Törökszentmiklós and the following year he won "Consolation Prize" at the International Composition Prize of the Festival Internacional de Orquestas de Jóvenes Murcia (Spain).
He won the 1st Prize with his composition POLY at the 'In Memoriam György Ligeti' composition contest in Berlin (2007).
Horváth received 2nd prize at the Choir-song competition, 2008 of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest for his piece called Repedezett.
He received 2nd prize at the orchestral category of the New Hungarian Music Forum, 2009 for BORROWED IDEAS.
In 2011 in the final concert of the 2nd New Hungarian Music Forum two pieces by Horváth were performed. For (Tec)tonic he received 2nd prize in the chamber music category, while for the orchestral piece called Faust and friends in the Magic Castle he got the first prize.
He received 2nd prize and Special Prize of EMB at the orchestral category of the New Hungarian Music Forum, 2013 for die ReAlisierung einer komPosition and for Plunderphonic intermezzi in 2017.
Special Prize of RS9 Theatre was given to Horváth in 2016 by the occasion of the 2nd Péter Vallai Contemporary Performing Festival for his songs lines, words, letters...
In 2020 Horváth 2nd prize at the orchestral category of the New Hungarian Music Forum for the 6th and the 8th movement and first prize of the Chamber orchestra category for quasi ciaccona metrica at the New Hungarian Music Forum.
Horváth won the composition prize of Quasimodo competition in Balatonfüred (Hungary) in 2021 with his song Europe radio, Night on poem by András Petőcz.
His compositions are performed in Hungary and abroad as well such as the Budapest Autumn Festival, the Mini Festival - Budapest, the Új Magyar Művek Bemutatója (Premieres of New Hungarian pieces), Hommage a Bartók - Hangversenyciklus 2006 (Concert series, 2006), the Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam, the 25th Centre Acanthes Festival in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, the Szombathelyi Bartók Festival and Seminar, the Making New Waves, the ISCM World Music Days, Ljubljana (2003), Göteborg (2009) and Zagreb (2011), the Music of Today in London, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the FOCUS! 2007: The Magyar Legacy (New York), the Music in Current (Tokyo), the Aspects de Musique d'Aujourd'hui in Caen (France), the Mlada Praha, the musikprotokoll (Graz), the cresc. Biennale für Neue Musik (Frankfurt), the Átlátszó Hang Újzenei Fesztivál (Transparent Sound New Music Festival), the Taiwan International Music Festival (Taipei).
As a composer he worked with reknown conductors and ensembles such as Péter Eötvös, Kornél Fekete-Kovács, Rivka Golani, Péter Bársony, András Keller, Zoltán Rácz, Joel Sachs, Zsolt Serei, László Tihanyi, Gergely Vajda, Pierre-André Valade, Howard Williams, Pablo Rus Broseta or the Amadinda Percussion Group, the Budapest Saxophone Quartet, the Componensemble, the Concerto Budapest, the Ensemble Modern, ensemble 'de ereprijs', the Göteborg Symfoniker, the Big Band of the Croatian Radio, the Ensemble Intermoduláció, the Modern Art Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Hungarian Radio, the RSO Wien, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Tokyo Sinfonietta, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble and the Ensemble UMZE.
In 2004 and 2007 he was working as organiser and one of the artistic leaders of joint projects of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest and the New York based Juilliard School of Music. He also participated at the project as conductor.
Balázs Horváth regularly appears as conductor and performer at special occasions and performances of contemporary pieces. In 2009 he founded THReNSeMBLe with six young musicians with whom they perform contemporary music, especially from young composers. The membership joined toEnsemble UMZE in 2019.
Between 2000 and 2002 Balázs Horváth was recipient of the Zoltán Kodály Scholarship.
Balázs Horváth received the Benedek Istvánffy-prize for MAGNETS IV (round and round) in 2004 and for Waiting for... in 2007.
In 2007 he received the Ferenc Erkel-prize.
From 2012 Horváth is the member of the Board of Trustees of the Eötvös Peter Contemporary Music Foundation.
From 2019 Horváth is the chair of UMZE Association
From 2001 to 2006 his compositions were published by Editio Musica Budapest (EMB).
See information about pieces at Budapest Music Center.
