DÓRA HALAS
Dóra Halas, leader of the Soharóza choral ensemble, a Rezső Lantos-awarded conductor, received her doctorate (DLA) at the Liszt Academy of Budapest in 2013. Together with her earlier choirs she is the winner of several international choir competitions and conductor prizes and has also participated at such events as member of the jury. The theme of her DLA dissertation was choral improvisation, from which her current research topic arose: experimenting with collective choral composition and as such expanding the limits of traditional choir music. Her main artistic interest lies in multidisciplinary performances, where she can combine the elements and values of her choral ensemble with that of other arts. As conductor, singer and composer she has worked in numerous theatre and dance productions, among them under the direction of Róbert Alföldi (Hungarian National Theatre), Árpád Schilling (Krétakör), Viktor Bodó (Szputnyik Theatre Company), Roland Rába (Radnóti Theatre), Gábor Goda (Artus). She has also founded and led several avantgarde singing groups. She was the Music Office Manager of the Europa Cantat International Choral Festival at Pécs in 2015. She currently lives in Vienna, but continues to work on a regular basis with her choir and colleagues in Budapest.
FRUZSINA NAGY
Fruzsina Nagy started her career in alternative theatre productions and over the past decade she has directed several individual performances using costumes as the ”main characters” on stage. She has worked with Árpád Schilling at the Krétakör theatre company, Róbert Alföldi at the Hungarian National Theater, Tamás Ascher and Gábor Máté at the József Katona Theatre, Viktor Bodó at the Szputnyik Theatre Company and many others, including international performances in Graz, Basel, Cologne, Vienna, Zurich and Heidelberg. She is highly interested in the relationship between the human body and its surrounding world, working with costumes, masks, make-up, fashion and visuals. She gained “Best Costume and Mask Award” at the Hungarian POSzT festival in 2009 and 2013 and was chosen "Costume Designer of the Year" in 2016 with her Taboo Collection costumes.
SOHARÓZA
Soharóza is a Budapest-based experimental choral ensemble of 25 members, founded in 2008 by Dóra Halas at the suggestion of renowned theatre director Viktor Bodó. The group produces multidisciplinary performances through a completely new approach to choral music and collective singing, utilising special creative techniques. They experiment and improvise with the human voice, language, movement, rhythm, folk music as well as composed pieces, continually searching for new forms and sounds and using collective choral composition methods developed by themselves. The group has also participated in several theatre plays and artistic festivals. They have performed a slang-opera in a cave, organised gastronomical concerts together with a famous Hungarian food-blogger, hosted one of their music shows in an abandoned power-station, participated in flashmobs in concert halls and Turkish baths – just to name a few of their unique appearances. Their studio album, made entirely from musical material of their own, using different choral improvisational methods and some fragments of classical and world music, is available on bandcamp. They have also travelled abroad several times, the most memorable of which is their concert at the Hungarian Embassy of Berlin in 2010. The founding choir members named the group after a 9-month-old baby (Ms. Róza Soha), who was present at one of the most significant concerts of the choir’s set-out: a court performance in a block of flats given for the residents.
MÁRK BARTHA
A Hungarian composer, electronic musician, sound designer, and performer based in Budapest. He works with various theatre- and dance groups, as well as a composer for visual media. Studying electronic music lead him to an experimental approach in musical composition. A two-time beatbox champion of Hungary, he has developed a special interest in vocal music. He also works as a performer, combining electronic music and his voice in an improvised electroacoustic live set.
