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The Szilárd Mezei Ensemble consists of musicians performing various kinds of music (jazz, folk music, classical music) who are united in their commitment to improvisation as an approach. The ensemble’s musicians reside in the Voivodina region of Serbia and are active contributors to the traditional musical improvisation workshops of Novi Sad. The band, which is based in the town of Novi Sad, is multi-ethnic, as is the Voivodina region itself. It has been operating in its current form since 2002, with minor changes and shorter and longer breaks. The basis of the band is the Mezei Trio. Among the band’s members are trained solo musicians (Pápista, Dragaš, Zákány), students enrolled at music academies (Stanišić, Malina, Bačikin), a teacher at a music academy (Aksin), and a multifariously employed jazz musician (Csík), as well as a multi-instrumentalist interested in archaic folk music who has a band of his own (Ranković). The repertoire of the band consists of the compositions of Szilárd Mezei, works in which improvisation plays a decisive role.

Szilárd Mezei (b. Senta, 1974) is a Voivodina Hungarian composer, violinist, viola player, and double bass player, and the front man of his band. He studied music (violin) in Subotica and then composition in Belgrade, where he was a pupil of Zoran Erić. His music is based mainly on improvisation, with strong ties to Hungarian folk music, jazz and various schools of contemporary music (Bartók, Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Szabados, Braxton). His work includes a number of chamber music compositions as well as music for the stage (e.g. the pieces he wrote as a member of the Josef Nadj troupe in France). As a lead musician, he plays mostly in a trio, a quintet or in a large orchestra. He often participates in improvised music formations. He has played with Matthias Schubert, Michael Hornstein, Tim Hodgkinson, Jens Balder, and Ákos Szlevényi, among others. He is member of the band MAKUZ, which is led by György Szabados, with whom he also plays in a duo. He is an active organizer of workshops for improvised music.