Benedek Horváth (Age: 29)
Benedek Horváth, born in 1989 into a family of musicians, was raised in Budapest. He started playing the violin at the age of five, deciding half a year later to continue merely with the piano. Nevertheless, he still enjoys picking up his violin from time to time.
As a student of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, he has studied with Andràs Kemenes, Rita Wagner and Márta Gulyás. Currently at Basel Music Academy, he has completed his studies of Specialized Performance with Prof. Claudio Martínez Mehner. Numerous renowned artists have further contributed to his artistic development, such as András Schiff, Dimitri Bashkirov, Menahem Pressler and Ferenc Rados, Zoltán Kocsis.
Benedek is a laureate of the highly regarded Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition (Santander 2012) and recent winner of the Kiefer Hablitzel Competition (Bern). His artistic talent has also been recognized trough varios prizes and awards at competitions abroad, like in Hungary (1st Prize Isidor Bajic International Piano Competition, 3rd Prize Béla Bartók International Piano Competition, "Grand Prize" György Ferenczy Chopin Piano Competition) and many more.
With his trio, Trio Eclipse, he was a prize winner of the Orpheus Chamber Music Competition, Bern. Their concerts in Switzerland were boradcasted several times on Swiss Radio SRF2. They have also performed in France Musique in Paris. They got inveted for the world renowned Lucerne Festival in 2019.
Some of the pianist's highlights, included Mozart's Piano Concerto K459 in Tonhalle Zurich, under Theodor Guschlbauer and Musikkollegium Winterthur, as well as Liszt's "Totentanz" in Stadtcasino Basel with the Basel Symphony Orchestra.
Performing as a soloist, Benedek has worked together with the Montenegro Symphony Orchestra, the Real Filharmonía of Galicia, the Szeged Symphony Orchestra and more. His recitals have led him to various European cities, such as Vienna (Live broadcast on ORF Radio), Milan, Rome, Krakow, the National Opera House in Tirana (Albania) or the National Theatre in Pogdorica (Montenegro).
As a passionate chamber music player, he has performed at the Cully Classique Festival, Santander Festival and with the Cosmofonia Ensemble in the Hans-Huber Saal of Stadtcasino Basel - apart from other venues in Switzerland. Furthermore, chamber music highlights include playing with internationally renowned Casals String Quartet and Zakar Bron.
At the age of 13, Benedek recorded his first CD with the MATAV Symphony Orchestra, performing two piano concertos by the Armenian-American composer Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee, who later on dedicated several pieces to him. In 2016, he recorded a solo program for the French label Artalinna, including works of Franz Liszt and Béla Bartók. CD was released that year. Benedek is going to record his second solo CD this year with works Janacek, Bartók and György Kurtág.