Máté Bella (, ; born 28 November 1985) is a Hungarian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and university professor at the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Franz Liszt Academy of Music (, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the Liszt Collection, which features several ...

in Hungary. He has worked across multiple genres of music, including classical

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

, theater music and

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

Early life and education

Máté Bella was born 28 November 1985 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Bella began his musical studies at

Ferenc Erkel Ferenc Erkel ( , ; November 7, 1810June 15, 1893) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist. He was the father of Hungarian grand opera, written mainly on historical themes, which are still often performed in Hungary. He also composed t ...

Primary School for Music. He later attended the Weiner Leó Secondary Music School in

, where he specialized in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. He continued his music education between 2002 and 2006 at the Béla Bartók Music Institute, where he focused on composition under the

mentorship Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

Miklós Kocsár Miklós Kocsár (21 December 1933 – 29 August 2019) was a Hungarian composer. He was born in Debrecen, Hungary, (son of László Kocsár and Erzsébet Borsy) and studied composition at the Academy of Music in Budapest with Ferenc Farkas, gra ...

. After graduating in 2006, he was admitted to the

, where he completed his studies in 2011. In 2013, he spent a semester at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków on an

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

scholarship. Máté was awarded a scholarship for the New National Excellence Program in 2017, and in 2018, he received his ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' doctoral degree.

Career

In 2009, he won the New Hungarian Music Forum composer competition, organized by Müpa Budapest and the Budapest Music Center. This was followed by the recognition of his ensemble piece ''Chuang Tzu's Dream'' by the

International Music Council The International Music Council (IMC) was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. The original request of the foundation of the IMC was under the Director of the UNESCO. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in 2010. This piece was performed by the

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...

. That same year he became the first composer to receive the Junior Prima Award, which recognizes individuals under 30 for outstanding achievements in various fields. In 2011, one of his compositions, written for a play at the Hungarian National Theatre, won the Theatre Critics Award. He received the Erkel Ferenc Award in 2016 and the Bartók-Pásztory Award in 2019. His song ''Mostantól'' (From Now On), co-written with Gergő Rácz, won the

A Dal ''A Dal'' (English: The Song) is an annual music competition in Hungary organised by the national broadcaster Duna since 2012 and served as the national selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest between 2012 and 2019. The contest was i ...

2020 competition, receiving the Petőfi Music Award for Song of the Year and the Hungarian Music Awards Fonogram prize for Best Hungarian Modern

Pop/Rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

Album or Recording of the Year. In 2025, he won the Artisjus Award in the 'Classical Music Work of the Year' category for his composition ''The Cheerleaders''. Bella is a member of the Artisjus Committee of Classical Music Critics, the Association of Hungarian Composers, and the 'Musician/Composer' section of the Hungarian Film Academy Association. He is also a co-founder of Studio 5, a contemporary composers' group established in 2016. From 2019 to 2024, he served as a senior lecturer at the

and has been an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

since 2024.

Main works

Chamber music

Ensemble

Orchestral works

Compositions for orchestra

Compositions for string orchestra

Vocal music

Choral works

Operas

Musicals

Songs

Pop music

Theatre music

Film scores

Discography

Awards and competition prizes

Awards

* Junior Prima Award (2010) * Istvánffy Benedek Prize (''Chuang Tzu's Dream'', 2010) * Best theatre music – Theater Critics Award (''Magyar ünnep'', 2011) * Istvánffy Benedek Prize (''A tavasz ébredése'', 2013) * Junior Classical Composer of the Year Artisjus Prize (2015) * Ferenc Erkel Prize (2016) * Béla Bartók–Ditta Pásztory Prize (2019) * Petőfi Music Award for Song of the Year (''Mostantól'', 2020) * Hungarian Music Awards Fonogram prize for Best Hungarian Modern Pop-rock Album or Recording of the Year category (''Mostantól'', 2020) * Artisjus Award – Classical Music Work of the Year (''The Cheerleaders'', 2025)

Competition prizes

* 1st prize – Weiner Leó Composition Competition, Budapest (2002) * 1st prize – 6th International Composition Competition (Farbotony),

Kaniv Kaniv (, ) is a city in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. The city rests on the Dnieper River, and is one of the main inland river ports on the Dnieper. It is an urban hromada of Ukraine. Population: Kaniv is a historical tow ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

(2003) * 3rd prize – National Improvisation Competition, Budapest (2003) * Special Prize – National Composition Competition, Budapest (2004) * Special Prize – Vántus István Composer Competition, Association of Hungarian Composes and Vántus István Foundation,

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

(2006) * 3rd prize – National Composition Competition, Budapest (2006) * Shared 1st prize – Liszt Academy Composer Competition, Budapest (2007) * Special Prize – Youth Contemporary Music Evenings, Budapest (2007) * Special Prize – 9th Zdarzenia Theatre and Art Festival,

Tczew Tczew (, formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). It is the capital of Tczew County and the largest city of the ethnocultural region of Kociewie within th ...

(2007) * Special Prize – Youth Contemporary Music Evenings, Budapest (2008) * Special Prize – Wekerle centenarian, Wekerle Cultural Association, Budapest (2008) * Special Prize – Youth Contemporary Music Evenings, Budapest (2009) * 1st prize – Liszt Academy Composer Competition, Budapest (2009) * 1st prize in Chamber Music – NHMF Composer Competition, Budapest (''Chuang Tzu's Dream'', 2009) * 3rd prize, Musical Competition of Madách Theatre, Budapest (''Macskadémon''/''The Demon Cat'', 2010) * Shared 3rd prize – Liszt Academy Composer Competition, Budapest (2010) * 1st prize – Generace Composer Competition,

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

(2013) * 1st prize in Chamber Music – NHMF Composer Competition, Budapest (''Trance'', 2013) * 1st prize – Generace Composer Competition,

(2015)

References

External links

Official website
*
Rostrum of Composers 2017 – Palermo (Hungarian Radio / Radio Hongroise) Máté Bella
rostrumplus.net – May 2015
Bella, Máté
Editio Musica Budapest Ltd. emb.hu Retrieved 30 April 2019
Máté Bella (Composer)
betterthansexmusical.co.uk
Bella, Máté
Budapest Music Center, info.bmc.hu * *
“One must be able to give an account of each second and each note” – Interview with the composer Máté Bella
lfze.hu – 22. February 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bella, Mate 1985 births Composers from Budapest Hungarian composers Living people Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni