“Music has instinctively become therapy in my life,” says Dominika Ács

Dominika Ács, a Junior Prima Award-winning flutist and singer, is carving a distinctive path that expands the traditional boundaries of classical music. She navigates her career as a performer, songwriter, and educator, consistently weaving together various art forms, self-awareness, and narratives drawn from personal experiences.

Ács credits her unconventional upbringing for fostering a free-thinking approach to her career. Inspired by flutist Eszter Horgas, she learned early on that forging one's own path is possible. A significant early experience involved collaborating with director Ádám Horgas on a theater production in 2013, where she took on composing tasks as a child.

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Music has instinctively become therapy in my life.

While drawn to theater, singing, and movement, Ács hesitated to fully embrace songwriting until later. Her breakthrough came in 2023 when, performing with the ConnectTrio, she played an original song at the Liszt Academy. This moment felt like a true beginning, allowing her to express an authentic voice she hadn't previously found on stage.

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Perhaps it is precisely because my parents did not come from this environment that I could think more freely about my career. There was no single designated path before me.

She describes her work as "creative self-knowledge," a concept learned from her mentor. Ács explains that the framework of classical music can feel constricting when a strong desire to tell stories or convey emotional states arises. Tools like movement, spoken word, or text, learned from her teachers, complement music, making the artistic expression more complete.

Ács reveals that her album "Breathing" centers on the motif of breath, but it also carries deeper personal meaning. Her creative process is often triggered by internal crises. Music has become an intuitive therapy, helping her re-evaluate her identity, beliefs, and future. Working with a psychologist who specialized in breath therapy, she discovered the profound connection between emotional experiences and their physical manifestations, a realization that fueled her extensive self-discovery journey.

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Creative self-knowledge.