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Fragments 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.
Drawing on Judit’s heritage, Fragments began 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. Their 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.
Since 2017, performances have been held at the Ian Hanger Recital Hall at the Queensland Conservatorium, the Nickson Room at the University of Queensland, 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. Fragments' performances 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) centring on the performances of four György Kurtág song cycles. This endeavour was commenced in 2020, its completion postponed by Australia’s Covid-related lockdowns and recent Brisbane flooding event. Following this will be a collaboration with Sydney and Melbourne-based composers Mark Oliviero and Vincent Giles with selected composition students at the Australian Institute of Music, 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 awards. Brieley has been a National Keyboard Winner of the Symphony Australia ABC Young Performers Awards - performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for ABC live radio and television in the Grand Final - and she gained second prize in the Kerikeri National Piano Competition in New Zealand. She is also a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and has completed a practical doctoral degree (DMA) at Griffith University. 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. She is currently completing doctoral studies at Griffith University.
