'About Time' is an exciting meeting of old samples and modern minimal music elements.

Five chamber music works by Máté Bella have been published in recent months, which prove their author’s sensitivity to small forms and the diversity of his writing, which finds a free transition among different styles. 

In 2017, Máté Bella composed his work Hesperus for viola and ensemble. The work was commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporaine and premiered on 16 February 2019 on French Radio. On May 18, Péter Bársony will be the soloist of the Hungarian premiere at the Budapest Music Center, the UMZE ensemble will be conducted by Gregory Vajda. We asked the composer on the occasion of this coming performance.

What kind of compositional ideas have you realized in Hesperus?

This piece is the third one in a series: First, Chuang Tzu’s Dream was written for cello and ensemble, then came Trance for violin and ensemble, and finally, Hesperus for viola and ensemble joined them.

On 16 February, Ensemble intercontemporain premiered Máté Bella’s Hesperus for viola and chamber ensemble at Radio France's Présence Festival. The composition was commissioned by EIC, soloist was Odile Auboin, the concert was conducted by Dylan Corlay.

The beginning of Máté Balogh’s, Máté Bella’s, Péter Tornyai’s and Balázs Horváth’s musical career is in many ways tied to Péter Eötvös, who was their driving force in the past few years. It is therefore no surprise that the majority of the programme of the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation’s (which Eötvös founded in 2004) concert in Zurich on 26 June consists of works composed between 2010 and 2016 by these young composers. Jam Quartet by Máté Balogh, Chuang Tzu’s Dream by Máté Bella, QuatreQuatuors by Péter Tornyai will be performed for the first time in Switzerland, pikokosmos = millikosmos by Balázs Horváth will be premiered in Zurich.

Máté Bella’s new work was commissioned by the Musica Viva concert series of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Composed in 2014, its world première takes place on 20 February 2015 in the Munich Hercules Hall, as part of a Musica Viva weekend devoted to contemporary music. It will be performed by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Peter Eötvös. This publication is the first in the Peter Eötvös Foundation Series dedicated to new compositions by talented young composers discovered and supported by the Foundation.