Endre Olsvay is the descendant of a musician family. His great-grandfather was the composer-conductor of Mátyás-templom (Matthias Church), Mór Vavrinecz; his father, Imre Olsvai (1931-2014), was one of the most significant folk music researchers of his time, editor of the non-thematic volumes of A Magyar Népzene Tára (Collection of Hungarian Folk Music), who continued the folk music research work carried out by Kodály and Pál Járdányi. His mother is Márta Korentsy, a music teacher, psychologist, and music therapist. His father was Kodály's youngest pupil, whose relationship with his master was almost “familial”: just as Kodály, as a university student, took his early works written for choir and instruments – the Ave Maria (1898) and Assumpta est Maria (1903) – to Mór Vavrinecz, the composer-conductor of the Mátyás-templom (Matthias Church) and grandfather of Imre Olsvai (Vavrinecz) for evaluation, nearly half a century later, with a similar aim, the conductor's grandson, still a primary school student, delivered the early fruits of his first collection to Kodály, professor at the Liszt Academy.
He grew up in a true musical environment; his mother taught him to read music and the basics of piano. He decided, while still a small child, that he would become a composer – although his parents did not steer him towards a musical career at all, and in fact, tried to dissuade him from it. Although later there were short periods of doubt, he continued his piano and violin studies, and his primary attachment to music remained firm. As a primary school student, he also had a serious interest in the natural sciences: he participated in mathematics competitions and won a national study competition in chemistry. This affinity later receded, but he completed high-level mycology courses and is a member of the Magyar Mikológiai Társaság (Hungarian Mycological Society). Urban protection is also important to him, and naturally, the sister arts as well.
After his (outstanding) graduation from the Toldy Ferenc Gimnázium (Toldy Ferenc Secondary School) in Budapest, he studied composition for two years at the Bartók Béla Zeneművészeti Szakközépiskola (Bartók Béla Secondary School of Music) in Budapest under Miklós Kocsár. From here, his path led straight to the composition department of the Liszt Academy, where Attila Bozay was his master. His teachers also included Sándor Balassa, Emil Petrovics, Zoltán Pongrácz, József Soproni, Balázs Szunyogh, and János Vajda. In 1986, he won the Albert Szirmai Prize, as well as a one-year scholarship from the Kincses Board of Trustees. For one academic year, he was a demonstrator for Professor István Párkai in the choral conducting department, as piano tutor.
He obtained his music theory teacher's diploma in 1986. He graduated as a composer in 2000.
In 1985, he applied to the Teacher Training Institute of the Liszt Academy, majoring in piano, where he obtained a diploma with distinction in 1988 as a student of Edit Hambalkó.
In 1990-91 and in 1992-94, he was awarded the Zoltán Kodály Creative Scholarship.
Initially, his works were performed mainly at concerts of the Fiatal Zeneszerzők Csoportja (Young Composers' Group), but his pieces titled Zsurlók (Horsetails) and Sinphon were performed in wider circles as well (the latter was put on the programme several times by “Group 180” during a European concert tour). Zsurlók was the first to be recorded, followed by Gekko (both at Hungaroton), and after the recording of a few individual compositions appearing on anthologies, Hungaroton released his authorial CD in 2003 (“Tarn / Tengerszem”).
After a “triple composer's evening” with Béla Faragó and Géza Gémesi (“105-year concert” – 1996, Merlin Theatre), his first independent composer's evening took place in 1998, organised by the Institute for Musicology of the MTA Institute for Musicology. His chamber and solo works were premiered; his conversation partner was András Soós. This was followed by several “double evenings”: in 2008 and 2010 in Győr (with Barnabás Horváth), and in 2013 in Budapest – with the support of the MMA – at the Óbudai Társaskör (Óbuda Social Circle) with Lajos Huszár.
Even as a music academy student, he considered professional further training important; in 1984, he participated in the legendary Ferienkurse für Neue Musik courses in Darmstadt, by way of a scholarship.
In 1986, 87, and 89, he participated in ISCM courses organised for young composers in Poland. In 1988 and 89, he was a student in Marco Stroppa's course at the Nemzetközi Bartók Fesztivál (International Bartók Festival) in Szombathely, and in 1990, attended György Ligeti's course. He composed his instrumental quartet titled Változatok hóesésre (Variations on Snowfall) in 1992 for the Musikszene Ungarn series in Vienna, at the request of the Intermoduláció Ensemble. This work saw quite a few performances later as well (e.g. Földvári Napok 1996); Zoltán Farkas praised it in a longer analytical review in the columns of the journal Muzsika (Music) (“Snowfall and Summer Music”, March 1993), and for the event series titled Metszet (Engraving) (1996, FÉSZEK Művészklub (FÉSZEK Art Club)), it was not only put on the programme, but Imre Földes also conversed with the author about this piece. (The conversation later appeared in an edited form in the journal Parlando.)
In 1994, he was commissioned by and composed for the Bartók Festival his ensemble piece Status quo, which premiered there two years later.
Later on, he regularly appeared at various festivals and musical events, including several international festivals: in 1993, at the Kiev event of the International Forum of Young Musicians, not only was one of his works presented, but he was also invited to the jury of the Forum's composer competition. He was a jury member in Norwich (1992) at the first meeting of the “Europèen Pépinnieres” international scholarship committee; subsequently, he became their Hungarian “artistic supervisor” while the scholarship network existed.
He also participates in the juries of domestic composer competitions; he has been a returning jury member since 2006 for the Országos Kodály Zoltán Szolfézs-, Párosének- és Népdaléneklési Versenyek (National Zoltán Kodály Solfège, Pair Singing and Folk Song Singing Competitions), and on two occasions in the music theory section of the OMDK (National Scientific Students' Associations Conference).
Thanks to the instrumental studies begun in childhood, he is still an active musician today. As a piano chamber musician and player of the classical repertoire, he performs mainly with string partners. As for contemporary music, he has been a regular performer of his own works, and in several cases, those of his colleagues. In 1993, he became the keyboardist of the EAR Ensemble, flying the flag of so-called live electronic music; here he plays synthesizer and piano – true, less frequently in these past few years.
His interest in electronic music, characteristic of the period, is also thanks to his work with the ensemble. This orientation culminated in a month spent in the experimental music studio of the Kunstakademie in Berlin in 1999, where he worked on a scholarship on a composition (Hic et nunc) presented at a concert of the Berlin-Budapest Weeks.
With the EAR Ensemble, he participated in festivals in Warsaw (1998), Yerevan (2000), and Aveiro, Portugal (2002), and, naturally, in ISMEAM concerts organised in Sárvár between 1997 and 2004; his own works were performed on every occasion.
Since 1976, he has been actively playing the violin, and occasionally the viola, in the Óbudai Kamarazenekar (Óbuda Chamber Orchestra) founded by Ottó Till. It is therefore no accident that the string orchestra, and string instruments in general, are so close to the composer. Thus, it is justified to say that his art is characterised primarily by an instrumental way of thinking and affinity for instruments. Yet he himself mentions in an interview that he is increasingly interested in singing voice and vocal genres as well. This is exemplified by the fact that one of the two works he considers most important is Szavak (Words), created in 2005 – a solo vocal piece accompanied by a chamber ensemble. (The other is Tengerszem (Tarn) /1996/ – for a purely instrumental chamber ensemble, which also lends its title to the author’s album.)
He started teaching very early, while still a music academy student: from 1985 to 1990, paid by the hour, he taught solfège, music theory, and compulsory piano subjects to foreign students.
From 1986, he was an instructor at the Széchenyi István Egyetem Zeneművészeti Intézet (Institute of Music of Széchenyi István University) in Győr (then still a faculty of the Liszt Academy), and from 2002, an associate professor. He was the head of the music theory department from 1995 until its cessation in 2006.
He teaches, or has taught over the years, solfège, chamber music, compulsory composition, analysis, score reading, music theory, musical dissemination of knowledge, piano repertoire knowledge, piano instrument knowledge, transposition-score reading, piano sight-reading, compulsory piano, piano methodology, general music history, and song literature. Besides these, he holds (held) special music literature colleges on the repertoire of his favourite composers: works by Schubert, Bach, Mussorgsky, as well as on the history of the string quartet and under the title Esztétika a mindennapokban (Aesthetics in Everyday Life).
In 1992-93, he was a piano teacher at Frédéric Chopin Zeneiskola (Frédéric Chopin Music School) in Gödöllő, then, from 1993 to 2002, he taught music theory and solfège at the Bartók Béla Zeneművészeti Szakközépiskola (Bartók Béla Secondary School of Music).
From 1993, for three academic years, he taught European music history within the framework of the optional humanities subject group at the Institute of Environmental and Landscape Management Department of Gödöllői Agrártudományi Egyetem (University of Agricultural Sciences in Gödöllő). He has taken on a special task: to show the beauties and curiosities of music to non-professionals.
During this time, he often undertook tasks as co-head in graduation examinations in vocational art secondary schools, and also followed the training of individual talents.
His versatile way of thinking is characterised by the fact that he was one of the group preparing the Győr team for the inter-college Mozart quiz of the Hungarian Television (1991/92). They won the first prize. Thanks largely to this achievement, he received a rector's commendation in 1992.
From 2001, he was an assistant professor at the Liszt Academy, and from 2013, an art teacher. He teaches (taught) music theory, solfège, analysis, score reading, and transposition-score reading, and in 2015 – on the request of students – he started his Schubert course here too.
Just as in Győr, he regularly undertakes tasks as consultant and opponent at the Liszt Academy.
His wide-ranging musical knowledge fascinates his listeners. Few teachers have such a rich repertoire.
He is also a prominent music educator and writer. The special college in this field under Imre Földes in 1984-85 provided an indispensable background.
He is the author of several articles, reviews and reports, including the edited version of his lecture on the possible reform of music higher education, the introduction of new subjects and the diverse education of students, published in Parlando, at a conference on music theory teachers. He has written hundreds of analytical reviews of works, not only in the contemporary field.
He has produced analytical companion studies for the CDs of József Soproni, Attila Bozay and László Melis; including his own, of course.
Between 1992 and 2000, he conducted major interviews with twelve prominent Hungarian composers (including several of his former teachers) for the Hungarian Music Quarterly. (Some of them also appeared in Hungarian in various journals.) As a consequence of this, Attila Bozay asked Olsvay to be the writer of the volume planned about him in the Magyar Zeneszerzők (Hungarian Composers) small monograph series. Unfortunately, the request represented their last conversation: A. Bozay died two months later. Olsvay worked on the small book with redoubled conscientiousness; it was published in 2002. Critics wrote:
“We hold in our hands the work of a thoroughly prepared writer, closely linked to the composer's oeuvre and person. Perhaps there is a bit more technical terminology than usual in the other volumes of the series – it is palpable that this is a composer writing about another composer. However, this can hardly be called a fault.”
In 2013, he also appeared with a lecture at the two-day conference of the Hungarian Academy of Arts titled Paradigmák a művészetben (Paradigms in Art), organised in the Benczúr House (titled Kérdőjelek, kételyek, kényszerek (Question Marks, Doubts, Constraints)). Károly Szarka notes about this on Bárka (Ark) online:
“On the musical side, Endre Olsvay makes us wonder whether the word paradigm might not be a euphemistic formulation of fashion, and then plays with the term, warning us that paradigm should never become paradox.”
In the lecture series Évfordulók nyomában (In the Footsteps of Anniversaries) of the MTA Institute for Musicology, he gave a lecture on László Dubrovay in 2013, and on Zsolt Durkó in 2014.
Endre Olsvay's method of composition is characterised by thoughtfulness. He usually carries his thoughts for a long time, trying to develop them. He does not use a computer for composing: he writes the music by hand, carefully and beautifully.
His instrumental compositions include both traditional and experimental combinations - he has produced one opus (2010-13) for his favourite formation, the string quartet, but plans to do more. In his pieces, the constructional principle is central, but this does not mean a new, routine application of one or two principles. In any case, the single-core, single-arc dramaturgy, with its ebb and flow at the end, and the mosaic-like, multi-thematic shaping are two fundamental starting points for interpreting his works.
[2016]