# Máté Bella

Máté Bella (born November 28, 1985) is a Hungarian composer and university professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary. He has worked across multiple genres of music, including classical and contemporary music, opera, choral works, musicals, theater music, and pop music.

## Career

He commenced his musical studies at Erkel Ferenc Primary School for Music and later attended Weiner Leó Secondary Music School in Budapest, specialising in composition and piano. He continued his music education at Béla Bartók Music Institute between 2002 and 2006, where he focused on composition as a student of Prof. Miklós Kocsár. Following his graduation in 2006, he was admitted to the Liszt Academy, where he graduated in 2011. In 2013, he studied at the Academy of Music in Kraków for a semester on an Erasmus scholarship. In 2017, he was awarded a scholarship for the New National Excellence Program, and a year later, in 2018, he received his summa cum laude doctoral degree. From 2019 to 2024 he was a senior lecturer at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Since 2024, he has been an associate professor at the Liszt Academy.
In 2009, he won the New Hungarian Music Forum composer competition organized by Müpa Budapest and the Budapest Music Center. This award brought significant recognition for him, followed by several proposals to compose theatre music. This was followed by his ensemble piece Chuang Tzu's Dream, which was acclaimed in the 'under 30' category by several classical music radio stations and recognized by the International Music Council in Lisbon in 2010. This piece was performed by the London Sinfonietta. In the same year, he became the first composer to receive the Junior Prima Award, which is given to individuals under the age of 30 for outstanding achievements in different fields. In 2011, one of his pieces, written for a play at the Hungarian National Theatre, was given the Theatre Critics Award. Later, he received the Erkel Ferenc Award in 2016, and the Bartók-Pásztory Award in 2019. His song Mostantól (From Now On) with music by himself and Gergő Rácz, won the A Dal 2020 show, receiving the Petőfi Music Award for Song of the Year and Hungarian Music Awards Fonogram prize for the best Hungarian modern pop rock album or recording of the year category.
Maté 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 one of the founders of the Studio 5 contemporary composer group, created in 2016.

## 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)

### Competition Prizes

* 1st prize – Weiner Leó Composition Competition, Budapest (2002)
* 1st prize – 6th International Composition Competition (Farbotony), Kaniv, Ukraine (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 (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 (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 (2013)
* 1st prize in Chamber Music – NHMF Composer Competition, Budapest (Trance, 2013)
* 1st prize – Generace Composer Competition, Ostrava (2015)