Judit Varga’s self-described “kinetic music” is the perfect descriptor of her work, which bristles with dramatic energy. One critic praised her music as having “extraordinary technical virtuosity.” Indeed, she navigates the sonic sphere of possibilities with exceptional orchestration skills, while understanding the perfect psychological timing for every phrase. This Vienna-based Hungarian composer is also a film composer, pianist, and university professor of composition. Since 2019, she has been a university professor of music composition as well as media composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Her compositions are performed worldwide in such prestigious concert halls and festivals as the Wien Modern, the Hungarian State Opera House, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Juilliard School in New York, the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival, the Mini Festival, the Konzerthaus and MusikvereinWien, the Muffathalle Munich and the Warsaw Autumn. Her works are part of the repertoire of Hungarian and foreign musical groups like the Ensemble Modern, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, the UMZE Ensemble, the Concerto Budapest, the Ensemble Kontrapunkte, the Riot Ensemble London, the ensemble XX. jahrhundert (eXXj) and the Hungarian Radio Choir. All of those compositions were commissioned.
She has composed music for over 30 theater performances and films as well as won 18 prizes and scholarships from prestigious European musical institutions and competitions. In 2013, 2014, and 2020, she was nominated by the Austrian Film Academy in the category for “Best Soundtrack.” Approximately 30% of her work is composing for films. For her outstanding contributions to contemporary Hungarian music and Hungary’s cultural life, she was awarded the Béla Bartók – Ditta Pásztory Prize in 2017. In 2019 she was awarded the TONALi19 composer award for her piano solo “Pendulum” which was performed by the participants of the piano competition of the TONALi Festival in the Elbphilharmonie. In 2022, Varga received the Outstanding Artist Award for her achievements in the field of music from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture.
She is a member of the Hungarian Composers’ Union, and the Austrian Composers’ Association.
