about.
Fragments Ensemble explores what art song can mean now. Retaining the honoured traditions of classical piano and voice performance, Brieley Cutting (piano) and Judit Molnár (soprano) work together and with their collaborators to understand, engage, and communicate with an expressive performative blend of classical and the avant-garde.
Brieley and Judit have worked together since 2012 and Fragments Ensemble was initiated in 2017 as a 'work lab' for Judit's doctoral project, The Voice of Kurtág. Performances continued with a focus on showcasing voice and piano music of the most influential Hungarian composers of the 20th and 21st centuries - Bartók, Ligeti, Kodály, and Kurtág. Fragments' repertoire has since been widened to also include art song and chamber works from composers across Europe, Russia and Australia. The spotlight in concerts extends to Fragments' collaborators, instrumental repertoire with piano adding variety to their programs.
Fragments' performances have been held at the Ian Hanger Recital Hall at the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane, the Nickson Room at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, the Comissariat Store Museum in central Brisbane city, the Jackman Gallery of contemporary art in Melbourne's St Kilda, and at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. They have also been featured in the 4MBS Festival of Classics and as part of Brisbane Open House.
Collaborators have included Graeme Jennings (violin), Kristian Winther (violin), Nathan Smith (cello), Rianne Wilschut (clarinet), Monika Koerner (flute), István Horkay (visual artist), Stephen Danzig (digital media artist), and David Spearritt (recording engineer).
2022 will see Fragments complete a recording project with Graeme Jennings (violin), featuring performances of four György Kurtág song cycles and selected folk-songs by Béla Bartók. This endeavour was initiated in 2020, but its completion was postponed by Australia’s Covid-related lockdowns and the recent Brisbane flooding event. 2023 will include a collaboration with Sydney and Melbourne-based experimental composers Mark Oliviero and Vincent Giles, their work together exploring the craft of composing art songs and pushing boundaries with electro-acoustic approaches to composition and performance.
As individual artists in their traditional classical genres, Brieley and Judit’s technical ability, performance presence, and creativity have been acknowledged through a string of accomplishments and awards.
On stage, Australian pianist Brieley Cutting has been described as having “at her disposal a myriad of different colours” (The Auckland Scoop) and as being “technically assured" with "excellent control of the keyboard” (The Courier Mail). In 2006 she was National Keyboard Winner of the Symphony Australia ABC Young Performers Awards and in 2010 received second placing in the Kerikeri National Piano Competition in New Zealand. In 2013 she was granted a fellowship of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and in 2016 was awarded a Doctorate of Music Arts from Griffith University. Brieley has performed as soloist and chamber music collaborator at venues in London, Brussels, Salzburg, and New Zealand; in many of Australia’s leading venues; for organisations such as ABC Classic FM, 4MBS, and Musica Viva; and at numerous festivals in Australia. Brieley has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras including the Melbourne Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, and Queensland Symphony, and has performed with leading ensembles such as Ensemble Trivium, Australia Piano Quartet, Collusion, and Topology.
Described as "beautifully voiced" (Blue Curtains, Brisbane), soprano Judit Molnár was born and educated in Hungary. She is a specialist in opera and operetta, and a regular concert recitalist and chamber musician. Judit has performed at solo and chamber concerts, festivals, oratories and operas in Europe (including Hungary, Italy, Austria, Germany, Czech, Poland, Slovakia and the UK), Japan, and throughout Australia, with orchestras and companies such as the North-Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, Interoperett, Lehar Festival Bad Ischl, Queensland Pop's Orchestra, Vienna Pop's Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, singing diverse repertoire ranging from Handel's oratorios to spectacular New Year's Eve Galas. During her studies at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Judit won the Art Fellowship of the City of Miskolc, gained second place in the Opera category of the Euroregion Competition Festival, and was also awarded with the Prize "Diamonds of Miskolc”. In 2012, Judit was granted a Distinguished Talent Visa by the Australian Government as an internationally recognised artist with exceptional and outstanding contributions to the arts. Judit was invited to accept a scholarship to complete her doctoral studies at Griffith University's Queensland Conservatorium of Music and she is now in her final year of studies.
projects.
