Artist database

14 August 1953, Budapest (Hungary) - 12 February 2018, Budapest (Hungary)

László Melis studied the violin at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. He is a founding member of Group 180, which was formed in 1978 and gave contemporary music concerts in various concert halls all over Europe until it broke up in 1990. Melis wrote five pieces for the group, all of which were recorded; during this time he played with several musicians (Louis Andriessen, Steve Reich, Terry Riley), who have had a profound influence on the music of today.

After the break up of Group 180, his time has primarily been spent composing: he has written two chamber operas: The Empire of the Smile (1985) and The Death of Kleist (1994). He has written several cantatas, songs for full orchestra, ballet music and ballet cantatas (Songs of Pearl, 1994), pieces for chamber orchestra and solo instruments (Black & White, 1999), and a series of movements for a vocal sextet and percussion (Of Time and the River, 2000), as well as a four-movement piece for the Budapest Cello Group (Cello Mania, 2000). He has also composed the music of several dozen feature films, several hundred theatrical performances and radio plays.

Awards
1995 Hungarian Film Critics' Award
2008 Erkel Award