Press

Judit Varga is Head of Department at the Vienna University of Music

“Working in Vienna both as a composer and as an artist, Judit Varga is to hold office from March 1st.

The Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, which was recently expanded with a campus, has been in the Top 3 institutes of SQ University Ranking for years. The Future Art Lab is waiting for composer students with studios and an art house cinema. At the age of 42, the youngest professor at the department Judit Varga has been teaching composing, cinematic art, and media arts since 2013. “

“Judit Varga creates her compositions with a fine sense of musical developments, both as absolute music as well as functional music for film and theater. Repetitive elements merge into slow and gradual changes and thus give the listeners time to embrace it. At the same time, the curve of tension is never disregarded, as in “13 Lieder”. The composer, who is also an active pianist, uses the piano both in its originally given tonal frame, but also de-tunes it on occasion. “Sweeter than roses” develops its charm by the de-tuned chords, which are built on a tonal foundation. While the chamber music compositions are mostly marked by a tense calmness, the full force of the sound is especially noticeable in orchestral works.” – mica austria (www.micaaustria.at)

Opernwelt 2016 Dezember Ausgabe:

“Vargas Musik, von Tibor Bogányi im Graben plastisch dargestellt und von den Solisten souverän interpretiert, spiegelt mit erstaunlicher Virtuosität verschiedenste kompositorische Techniken und sorgt dafür, dass die Ambivalenz der Szene tri!ig wird: Traurig-groteske Szenen am Krankenbett wechseln mit nostalgisch- ironischen Traumbildern ab. Und es sind insbesondere einige frühbarocke Passacaglia-Allusionen, die von jener Liebe «erzählen», die – ähnlich erschütternd – in Bartóks «Herzog Blaubarts Burg» als Unmöglichkeit postuliert wird.”

– Máté Mesterházi Opernwelt 2016/12

 

“Bei der Gala zum Österreichischen Filmpreis 2014, die heuer erstmals im niederösterreichischen Grafenegg stattfand, setzte sich das Werk gegen die Konkurrenz “Oktober November” und “Soldate Jeannette” durch.

Auch die Statuetten für die beste Regie und das beste Drehbuch durfte Hüseyin Tabak für “Deine Schönheit ist nichts wert” mit nach Hause nehmen.” – http://www.nachrichten.at

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/your-beauty-is-worth-nothing-film-review-346205

“Cinematography and music contribute to the haunting mood.” – The Hollywood Reporter

 

“Varga arbeitet in Entitas ganz gezielt mit neuen Spieltechniken. Die Erweiterung des Klangspektrums der einzelnen Instrumente bedeutet auch, dass sich die Klangfarben zwischen den Instrumenten immer mehr angleichen bzw. das größere Schnittmengen zwischen den Klangfamilien entstehen. Das Flautando heißt ja auch deshalb flautando, weil sich die Streicher damit dem Klang einer Flöte angleichen; harte Schläge der Blasinstrumente werden wiederum häufig als Pizzicato bezeichnet, also wie eine gezupfte Saite. Das Timbre, so lässt sich diese Beobachtung zusammenfassen, wird zu einem kontinuierlich durchgestaltbaren Raum, bei dem die Übergänge zwischen den Instrumenten fließend werden.

Einerseits weist Varga mit ihrem Stück darauf hin, dass die Auseinandersetzung mit Anderem und Fremdem, sei es im Wettstreit, sei es im Dialog, auch immer eine Bereicherung der eigenen Persönlichkeit ist. Andererseits ist Entitas ein Plädoyer für das Spezifische, das Eigene und die Differenz, die von der zunehmenden Vereinheitlichung unserer Lebensräumen durch Franchising und Globalisierung bedroht wird.”

 

 “On this evening, part of the Wien Modern festival, it was the Hungarian composers who stole the show, including the premiere of an intriguing work by Judit Varga. The evening ended with the premiere of Judit Varga’s Dietro la musica- 5 Divertimentifor flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano (2013), a commission from the art association Alte Schmiede. These fascinating divertimenti incorporated the sparse aesthetic of the previous works on the program, and added several other influences to make a satisfying and dramatic work. The piece opened with the pianist in darkness, the rest of the ensemble and conductor in light. The clarinet and flute played an off-kilter rhythmic game that began on two, then three notes. The string trio had light and sustained chords over top, and this texture built until it became one urgent, rising scale fragment. And suddenly there was Mozart, with clear, tonal chords and ringing voicings, which quickly melted back into sustained, scratchy murk. Varga’s gestures often repeated themselves, with a series of items following each other several times in a delightfully obsessive way. Impossibly slow bowings and tiny sounds were followed by another Mozartian moment. After the music fell one last time from bright and hard classical edges into a sul-pont mire, the lights on the piano suddenly went up. Stephanie Timoschek-Gumpinger shone in the virtuosic passage that followed. Her flair carried us from a ferocious series of figures on the bass end of the piano, rising gradually with fast lines and polyrhythms to the very top of the instrument. Several oscillating rhythmic patterns followed quickly, settling in before being whisked away for the next. As the piano finally began to lose energy, the quintet returned with quiet notes, and the lights on the whole stage began to fade. As darkness came into the room, we were left with a few major sounds, ending on a sustained chord in complete darkness.”