Péter Eötvös’s Experimental Compositions from the Seventies

At the exceptionally exciting concert of the Transparent Sound New Music Festival in 2026, the UMZE Chamber Ensemble presents a perhaps less known slice of the oeuvre of one of the greatest Hungarian musicians of all time, the recently deceased Péter Eötvös (1944–2024), to the general public. In the 1970s, the young Eötvös was a member of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s avant-garde composer giant ensemble, and partly under his influence, he experimented in his contemporaneous works with the combination of electronics and instrumental music. These experiments—and their results—were later incorporated into his other works, while the experimental nature gradually receded; it may not even be certain that based on the composer’s later orchestral works and operas, one would recognize these early pieces, which, however, are not only historically important but also extremely interesting compositions that have a powerful impact to this day. Through the three musical pieces presented at the concert, we can gain insight into what Péter Eötvös’s creative workshop was like in the seventies and what the sound world was that occupied the young composer at that time.

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With the friendly support of Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.