Máté Bella

• Name — Máté Bella • Native Name — Bella Máté • Born — 28 November 1985 • Birthplace — Budapest, Hungary • Education — Béla Bartók Music Institute, Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music • Occupation — * Composer • university lecturer • Years Active — 2002–present Máté Bella (Bella Máté; born 28 November 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 contemporary, opera, choir, musicals, theater music and pop music.

Máté Bella was born 28 November 1985 in Budapest, Hungary. Bella began his musical studies at Ferenc Erkel Primary School for Music. He later attended the Weiner Leó Secondary Music School in Budapest, where he specialized in composition and piano. He continued his music education between 2002 and 2006 at the Béla Bartók Music Institute, where he focused on composition under the mentorship of Miklós Kocsár. After graduating in 2006, he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, 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 scholarship. Máté was awarded a scholarship for the New National Excellence Program in 2017, and in 2018, he received his summa cum laude doctoral degree.

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 in Lisbon in 2010. This piece was performed by the London Sinfonietta. 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 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 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 Franz Liszt Academy of Music and has been an associate professor since 2024, and he habilitated in 2025.

• Work — Year • The Butterfly's Dream — 2005 • Psycho Symbioses — 2006 • El Tango de Viudas Engañadas — 2007 • Message, Message 02 — 2007 • Preludes — 2007 • Insomnia — 2008 • Insomnia – commentaries — 2008 • Silk — 2008 • The Secret — 2009 • Something happened... — 2009 • Manifestations — 2010 •...in paradise — 2010 • Ritual — 2010 • Study — 2011 • Visions — 2012 • Phantasm — 2013 • Varródermia — 2018 • Titan — 2020 • Fons — 2020 • Aeolus — 2021 • Beneath the Starry Night — 2021 • De Agnete — 2021 • Monochronic — 2022 • Judas — 2022 • Airambulum — 2024 • The White Chaconne — 2024 • After the Rain — 2025 • Stardust — 2025

• Work — Year • Equivalence — 2007 • Chuang Tzu's Dream — 2008 • Trance — 2013 • Reflections — 2013 • Hypnos — 2014 • Laniakea — 2015 • Hesperus — 2017 • The Cheerleaders — 2024

• Work — Year • Peace — 2013 • The Home at Night — 2014 • Lacrimosa — 2015 • Eternal Music — 2020 • O Oriens — 2021 • Summer Song — 2023 • Dies Irae — 2024

• Work — Year • Spring Awakening — 2012 • The Coronation of Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea) — 2019

• Title — Theatre — Premiere • Who the F**k is Lady Domina? — Academy of Drama and Film, Budapest — 2009 • Better than Sex — Courtyard Theatre, London — 2010 • The Demon Cat — Madách Theatre, Budapest — 2010 • Budapest Operetta and Musical Theatre — 2018 • freewill >>>> — Erkel Theatre, Budapest — 2023

• Title — Theatre — Premiere • Aria of the Miller's Daughter (A molnárlány áriája) — Sándor Weöres — 2008 • Botond's Emergency Song (Botond vészdala) — Attila Havasi — 2010 • [anya milyen] — Orsolya Karafiáth — 2012 • To the Unknown Sweatheart (Az ismeretlen kedveshez) — Sándor Weöres — 2013 • Ave Maria — Liturgical Text — 2024

• Title — Artist(s) — Publication • I Gotta Fly (Valami más) — Lilla Polyák — 2013 • It Can't Be Over — Fool Moon — 2014 • Bolondod voltam — Gergő Rácz, Ív — 2016 • Emlékkép — Tibor Kocsis — 2016 • Crack my code — Reni Tolvai — 2017 • Everest — Reni Tolvai — 2017 • Mostantól (From Now On) — Gergő Rácz, Reni Orsovai — 2019 • Maradj — Lilla Polyák — 2021 • Tubisoda — Gergő Rácz — 2025

• Title — Theatre — Premiere • Widows (Özvegyek) — Academy of Drama and Film, Budapest — 2007 • Berzsian and Dideki (Berzsián és Dideki) — National Theatre, Budapest — 2009 • Intrigue and Love (Ármány és Szerelem) — Müpa Budapest, Budapest — 2009 • Hungarian Celebration (Magyar Ünnep) — National Theatre, Budapest — 2010 • Mephisto — National Theatre, Budapest — 2013 • Danton's Death (Danton halála) — Comedy Theatre, Budapest — 2013 • The Evil Spirit Lumpazivagabundus (Lumpáciusz Vagabundusz) — Comedy Theatre, Budapest — 2014 • The Imaginary Invalid (A képzelt beteg) — Budapest Puppet Theatre, Budapest — 2016 • Frau Holle (Holle anyó) — Budapest Puppet Theatre, Budapest — 2017

• Work — Year • The Night's Monologue — 2011 • Suite — 2012 • Sounds of Generation Y — 2015 • Tabula Smaragdina — 2018 • Sounds of Generation Y Part II — 2018 • Love of Hephaestus — 2023 • Celestial Pathways — 2025

• Work — Year • Lethe — 2014 • About Time — 2023 • After the Rain (for string orchestra and piano) — 2025 • Ave Maria (for soprano and string orchestra) — 2025

• 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)

• 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)