Tibor Szemző (born 1955, Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian composer and flutist. He was a founding member of the Hungarian new music ensemble Group 180 (1978-1990) and writes primarily in the minimal style. His current group, The Gordian Knot, was formed in 1998.
Szemző is also known for creating the musical soundtrack for a documentary on Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The musical piece, in its entirety, is entitled Tractatus.
Recordings of Szemző's music have been released on the HPS, Hungaroton, and Leo labels.
Hungarian composer TIBOR SZEMZŐ was born in Budapest in 1955, beginning his musical studies at the Kodály method school at the age of six, graduated at the Hungarian Academy of Music. Szemzö formed his own trio (later a quartet), and in 1979 he founded the minimalist ensemble Group 180. It was a profoundly influential ensemble, renowned for its performances of Hungarian minimalism; it also performed works by John Cage and Steve Reich. Embarking on a solo career in 1983, Szemzö began integrating spoken word and visual elements into projects otherwise dominated by flute and live electronics, and in 1987 he issued his first solo recording, Snapshot from the Island. The downfall of Hungary's communist rule allowed him to began collaborating with various artists throughout Europe and beyond, and in 1998 Szemzö also formed a new chamber ensemble, the Gordian Knot. Other notable works include Ain't Nothing But a Little Bit of Music for Moving Pictures (the score to a collection of black-and-white home movies compiled by friend Péter Forgács), The Conscience (a trilogy of narrative-based chamber compositions) and Tractatus (a half-hour piece inspired by the Austrian philosopher Wittgenstein). In recent years Szemzo's interest has increasingly turned to film as well. His award winning feature A Guest of Life (intermixing documentary footage, animation, and Super 8mm film stock) was shot in Tibet.