Brunchtime Concert – Focus on Young Composers

This programme is held in Hungarian.

The concert places the work of four young women composers at the beginning of their careers at its center: Sebestyén Lázár Regina, Persányi Zsófi, Varga Nadin and Nagy Emma. The program aims to bring visibility to new female creative voices that are bringing fresh perspectives and exciting musical ideas to contemporary Hungarian chamber music. 

The program took shape through a collaboration between composer Varga Judit, as curator, and the four composers. Their work together created a creative process in which the composers could emerge as autonomous artistic voices, with room to experiment, develop their personal musical identities, and explore the new possibilities offered by the trio’s instrumentation. 

The concept seeks to strengthen the visibility and recognition of women composers, in keeping with the inclusive and diverse values of the contemporary music scene. The program champions the idea that works by women creators should receive the attention and opportunities to be presented that they deserve, contributing to a fairer, more inclusive cultural environment. The concert is not only a presentation of new works, but also an artistic gesture: it puts the creative power and professional significance of emerging women composers in the spotlight. The program is also enriched by the musicians of Ensemble Track3, who have selected a work by a woman composer dear to them for the concert. 

Ensemble Track3 is a clarinet–viola–piano trio specializing in performing chamber music from the 20th and 21st centuries and creating new works. Their name symbolizes the meeting of three artists from different cultural backgrounds—Taiwan, Estonia, and the United States—who come together in a shared space and shape the fresh, innovative sound world of their instrumentation with curiosity and a spirit of experimentation. The trio was formed in 2024 and quickly attracted significant international attention. In June 2024, they received the Dwight and Ursula Mamlok Prize for outstanding interpretations of contemporary music, then made their debut at the Konzerthaus Berlin, where Der Tagesspiegel praised their “expressive and sonically sensitive” playing. Their performances have included the Klangbrücken Festival in Hannover and the Voraushören concert series in Frankfurt; they also gave the premiere of Jesper Nordin’s Frozen Still Trio at the Magazin-Festival in Hannover. Track3 works closely with contemporary composers and is committed to bringing new compositions to life. In 2025, they served as the ensemble-in-residence at the Impuls Festival in Graz, where, mentored by Clara Iannotta, they developed new works with three young composers. In autumn 2026, they will present the interdisciplinary multimedia project “Umbruch/Turning Point” , which draws attention to composers facing the threat of fascism in their countries. Supported by the Deutsche Orchester-Stiftung, the program will be presented as part of the Unerhörte Musik series in Berlin, featuring premieres of works by Jinwook Jung, Alisa Kobzar, Po-Chien Liu, and Tianyu Zou, among others. This season, the trio will also make its debut in Estonia at the AFEKT Festival. 

Track3 has worked with composers including Franck Bedrossian, Márton Illés, and Jesper Nordin, and has received professional guidance from members of prestigious ensembles such as Quatuor Diotima, Klangforum Wien, and Ensemble Modern. The trio’s mission is to enrich the clarinet–viola–piano repertoire by commissioning and presenting new works, and to create programs that inspire audiences to engage with innovation, reflection, and discovery. 

Composers: 
Sebestyén Lázár Regina is a young composer at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music who has received several prestigious professional honors in recent years. In 2025, she received the Neszlényi Prize for her work “the dawn plays its melody on the crickets,” and during the same period she also won the Academy’s university composition competition. Her works reveal a sensitive, atmospheric sound world and a refined approach to chamber music, often built around lyrical gestures and richly colored textures. She actively participates in Hungarian and international composition competitions, and her works are regularly performed by young musicians and professional ensembles. 

Composer and pianist Persányi Zsófi studied at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. Her mentors include such influential artists as Dénes Várjon, Fülöp Ránki, Nagy Péter, Márta Gulyás, Rita Wagner, Gábor Csalog, and Marco Stroppa. Her work was recognized early on with prestigious awards: in 2025 she received the Zoltán Kocsis Prize, in 2022 she was awarded a scholarship through the New National Excellence Program, and in 2019 she achieved outstanding results in several international piano competitions, including third place at the Béla Bartók International Piano Competition and a special prize at the Île-de-France competition. Zsófi’s artistic focus is on presenting repertoire written after 1900, exploring the connections between Hungarian folk music and contemporary music, and creating interdisciplinary, genre-crossing projects. Her notable concerts include the program Nagy fának nagy árnyéka with mezzo-soprano Anna Molnár, and the two-part piano recital series Structure and Entropy, featuring works by Bach, Strauss, Couperin, Berg, Schoenberg, and her own compositions. Her artistic thinking is shaped by dialogue with the visual arts, experimental formal approaches, and a commitment to contemporary chamber music. 

Varga Nadin is a Hungarian composer whose work lies at the intersections of contemporary music, sonic experimentation, and interdisciplinary artistic approaches. Her work places equal emphasis on sound as a phenomenon, the relationship between space and time, and the physical and emotional experience of sound. Her compositions often draw on delicate textures, layered sound surfaces, and sensitive, atmospheric structures that make the listener an active participant. She studied at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and has been part of Hungary’s music scene from a young age: she came to national attention through the Virtuózok talent competition, and since then her works have been presented at a number of prestigious concerts and festivals. Her creative approach is defined by experimentation, crossing boundaries, and searching for new dimensions of sound, whether in acoustic chamber music, electronic works, or participation in multidisciplinary projects. Her art brings together personal sensitivity and conceptual thinking, making her compositions both intellectual and deeply intuitive. 

Nagy Emma is a composer and performer working at the intersection of contemporary music and improvisational genres, drawing on both jazz and modern chamber music. A graduate of the Academy of Music, she has attracted significant attention in Hungary’s music scene with her own groups, including the Nagy Emma Quintet. Her compositions have a personal voice, often building on powerful emotional and narrative elements, as well as on movement between different styles. According to an interview with Fidelio, her creative identity is shaped by diversity, inner tensions, and creative self-discovery.

Curators: Composers Varga Judit and Horváth Balázs 
Performer: Ensemble Track3 (Taavi Orro – clarinet, Elijah Spies – viola, Shan-Chi Hsu – piano) 
Composers: Sebestyén Lázár Regina, Persányi Zsófi, Varga Nadin, Nagy Emma