“Acceptance Speech” Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2021 in Music and Opera

Acceptance speech by Peter Eötvös, winner of the 2021 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera, honored for his extraordinary contribution to contemporary musical creation as a composer, conductor and educator. His career combined sound experimentation with the European musical tradition, developing an innovative language that integrates the emotional and dramatic dimensions of music and addresses the social and cultural issues of our time.

Eötvös reflects on the close relationship between his three professional roles and compares musical composition with scientific research, emphasizing that the final result of a composition remains hidden until it becomes sound. He recalls the influence of the Hungarian musical tradition, from Franz Liszt and Béla Bartók to György Ligeti and György Kurtág, and explains his interest in adapting works by contemporary writers for opera. He

Acceptance speech by Peter Eötvös, winner of the 2021 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera, honored for his extraordinary contribution to contemporary musical creation as a composer, conductor and educator. His career combined sound experimentation with the European musical tradition, developing an innovative language that integrates the emotional and dramatic dimensions of music and addresses the social and cultural issues of our time.

Eötvös reflects on the close relationship between his three professional roles and compares musical composition with scientific research, emphasizing that the final result of a composition remains hidden until it becomes sound. He recalls the influence of the Hungarian musical tradition, from Franz Liszt and Béla Bartók to György Ligeti and György Kurtág, and explains his interest in adapting works by contemporary writers for opera. He also expresses his hope that his compositions will convey the ideas, experiences and emotions of the present to future generations.