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Photo: Ivana Troselj

Marián Budos (b.1968, Slovakia) has enjoyed a varied career as a composer, classical guitarist, conductor and pedagogue, preceded by an earlier successful international career as a champion 1500m runner for the Czecho-Slovakian national team. In 1991, Budos graduated from Matej Bel University with a Bachelor of Education, settling in Australia the following year. In 1995, Budos continued his studies in composition at the Australian National University with Jim Cotter. Budos heads the Music Department at Narrabundah College in Canberra.

Budos's compositional style is driven by structure, direction, and narrative. His strong harmonic, melodic and rhythmical development is underscored by an unorthodox use of instrumentation and orchestration, based on a mixture of Western and non-Western musical traditions. He has received many awards, the most prestigious being the 1998 SOZA Composer of the Year Award (Slovakia's highest music award) for his work Two Worlds, for classical and semi-acoustic guitars, which was televised nationally and later released on an album of the same title. Compositions from this album formed the repertoire of two tours performed in trio with Ivana Troselj and Ján Labant; a 1997 tour of Slovakia organised by the government arts agency Slovkoncert; as well as a 1999 Australian tour.

Budos enjoys collaborating on a diverse range of artistic projects. His arrangements of traditional Slovakian folk songs were featured at concerts for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games celebrations in Canberra and at numerous cultural and diplomatic events. In 2002, conductor Oliver Dohnanyi premiered and recorded three guitar concertos by Budos with soloists Ján Labant, Rémi Boucher, Peter Remeník; along with the Slovak Sinfonietta, and Archi di Slovakia; later released on the album Heart on a Sleeve. Music from this album has also been used for film and television (A Touch of Courage: The Enlightenment; The Boe Sisters), and repeatedly featured on the US-based radio show Classical Guitar Alive. Heart on a Sleeve and Secret Wedding were further performed at concerts in Poland and Slovakia, by Filharmonia Czestochowa, Lublin Philharmonics, and Archi di Slovakia.

Budos enjoys working on projects with an element of storytelling. In 2005, he co-composed music with Ivana Troselj for the European tour of Seasons of the Soul, a sacred song-cycle and concerto, conducting cellist Monika Leskovar, mezzo-soprano Ivana Troselj, guitarist Ján Labant, vocal group Close Harmony Friends, and the Slovak Chamber Orchestra of Bohdan Warchal. Then in 2010 he toured the Once Upon a Time children's fairy-tale concert with cellist David Pereira, harpist Alice Giles, saxophonist Niels Rosendahl, co-composer/vocalist Ivana Troselj, and puppeteers Cathie Roach and Cathy Petocz.

Artists who commissioned new guitar works from Budos include Silver Sands Guitar Quartet, Ziggy & Miles Johnston, Tonié Field, John Couch, Ondrej Vesely, Karol Samuelcik, VCA Guitar Orchestra, JGO, Satori Quartet, Duo LaBarre, etc., supporting concert tours, festival performances, recordings, radio and TV broadcast in countries as varied as Cuba, Mexico, Holland, Germany or Thailand.

Budos enjoys a busy schedule of composing: In 2013 he premiered two works for the Centenary of Canberra: Clepsydra (Water Clock), performed by Swedish quartet The Peärls Before Swïne Experience with the Griffyn Ensemble at Belconnen Arts Centre; and My Canberra (Symphony No.2) - performed and recorded at Llewellyn Hall, featuring Canberra Youth Orchestra. Home from Two Worlds (also 2013) was arranged for Sally Walker (flute) and Phillip Mayers (piano) and released on the album Hemisphere through Chartreuse label.

Budos's Linn Linnaeus and The Magic Lute featured on John Couch's disc Ask Me Tomorrow and have been broadcast repeatedly on ABC Classic since December 2015. Light (2015) premiered at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena; One Last Time (2016) and Last Train From Platform 49 (2018), premiered at Cithara Aediculae festival by Ján Labant; Tres Meditacions (homenatge a Antoni Gaudi), premiered by John Couch in Adelaide (2019) and featured on his album Whenua o te Manu; and A New York Minute, written for cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd was premiered in Canberra and performed on their 2019 and 2023 tours of Australia and repeatedly in the USA, including a performance at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The piece is featured on Sono Luminus album Songs of Love and Despair and has been regularly played on NYC's WQXR.

The Passing of a Black Star (Homage to David Bowie), commissioned by the New Zealand Guitar Quartet, received its premiered in Wellington in 2016 and since then it has been performed, recorded, or broadcast by a dozen of different quartets in Australia, China, Mexico, USA, Poland, France, Spain, and Slovakia.

More recently, Budos has developed his love of books and literature into concerto projects. During his 2018 Barcelona visit, he was granted permission by acclaimed Catalonian novelist Jaume Cabré to adapt his international bestseller Jo Confesso (Confessions) to music. The premiere of this work, Adrià's Confessions, a book-concerto for guitar and orchestra, featuring soloist Jacob Cordover and Orquestra del Reial Cercle Artistic, supported by the ACT Government, Australian Embassy in Madrid, and the Australian Music Centre, took place in Barcelona's iconic Palau de la Música in April 2021. Australian premiere performances are planned for September 2026. Budos has also received permission from the Australian author Pip Williams to set her novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, to music. This new book-concerto for harp and orchestra (Esme's Words) featuring harpist Alice Giles is planned to be premiered in Australia in 2026.

Budos is currently working on a new piece for Trio Bohémo and a concerto for guitar and orchestra commissioned by Ingrid Riollot and L'Orchestre symphonique de Mâcon with Sinfonia Lumina, France for their winter 2026 season. Budos will also be a featured artist at the 2026 Taranaki Classical Guitar Summer School.

Marián Budoš

Marián Budoš — current to August 2025