PRESS
recent features, interviews, and reviews
of Zygmund de Somogyi's work
"The musical inspiration for hikikomori! stemmed less from the tropes of contemporary opera, and more from the emo and alternative rock records I grew up listening to. I hope that people who feel nostalgic for bands like My Chemical Romance and Funeral for a Friend, or are fans of bands such as Creeper, Bring Me The Horizon, and Havelocke, will get a lot from this opera — just as those who are interested in contemporary classical music."
"HIKIKOMORI! - A NEW OPERA FOR OUR TIMES"
Feature with Frances Wilson of The Cross-Eyed Pianist
March 2022
Available to read on The Cross-Eyed Pianist
"I’m very interested in online folklore — as a kid I was quite a shut in, I didn’t really go out much, I spent a lot of time online. Those became the folk tales that I am inspired by because that’s what I was exposed to — it’s almost a separate culture that exists alongside the physical space. And so I’m really interested in giving those stories a cultural standing that has the same weight as stories in the traditional folk tales, those we tell ourselves and pass down through the generations."
"COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT: ZYGMUND DE SOMOGYI"
Interview with Jake Adams of The Arc Project
October 2021
Available to read on the Arc Project blog
"[We need to] get rid of the notion that the Western art music canon — or the twelve-tone octave system — is universal truth. Embrace the breaking down of boundaries of genre and sound world — there’s no reason why a gayageum ensemble, a black metal band, or an oud jazz trio shouldn’t be taken as seriously in the concert hall as a symphony orchestra."
"MEET THE ARTIST - ZYGMUND DE SOMOGYI,
COMPOSER AND CURATOR"
Interview with Frances Wilson of The Cross-Eyed Pianist
September 2021
Available to read on Meet the Artist website
"I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted to do until I started interviewing people, started to get to know the work of other composers and how they got involved with [contemporary music] — particularly composers that didn't come from the classical education background. I learnt a lot from that, and how I could basically turn that into my own practice."
"ZYGMUND DE SOMOGYI ON CURATNG A CAREER SPANNING EVERYTHING FROM PUNK TO CHAMBER OPERA | SDW E42"
Interview with Social Distance Warriors
as part of Episode 42 of the Social Distance Warriors show
Interview available to watch on YouTube
April 2021
"Somogyi has created a journey in instrumentals as well as an album. Structurally, it’s perfect, each track challenging and complimenting the one before and the one to come after. There’ll always be preferences for any listener, and ‘Always Believe’ isn’t immune to that. But it’s true that, no matter what, nothing on this record is out of place. ‘Always Believe’ is an amazing album, through and through."
"LOVE IT TO DEATH REVIEWS MESMERISING POST-ROCK OUTING 'ALWAYS BELIEVE' BY ZYGMUND DE SOMOGYI"
Review of 'Always Believe' by Love it to Death Reviews
August 2019
"It’s a strange feeling to hear music that genuinely feels empowering; not through words, or by the tone of voice but through the notes of a piano with fluctuating tempos changing like a season – slowly, and then all at once."
"[INTERPRETATION/REVIEW]: ZYGMUND DE SOMOGYI RELEASES INSTRUMENTAL LP 'TERMINALS'"
Review of 'Terminals' by Jess Morgan
Available to read on Post Punk Press
September 2017