Istvan Benedekfi began his studies in 1995 at the Bela Bartok School of Arts in Bekescsaba, Hungary. In 1998 and 2001 he won 2nd prizes at the Schools of Music National Piano Competition. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Szeged (2002-2007) where he received his master’s degree in performance and teaching with summa cum laude distinction. During this time he received first prizes at the Sergey Rachmaninoff (2003) and the Bela Bartok (2005) piano competitions in Debrecen, Hungary. He also received special prizes at the 1st and 2nd Bela Bartok International Piano Competition in Szeged, Hungary (2004, 2006). He was selected to perform in master classes by Endre Hegedus, Ferenc Rados, Andras Schiff, Volkmar Lehmann, and Peter Florian. Currently, Istvan is pursuing the Artist Diploma degree at Ball State University, IN, USA, where he is a student of Dr. Robert Palmer.

 

Istvan Benedekfi is engaged in composing as well.  His composition won the special prize at the 1st Bela Bartok Composer’s Competition in Budapest in 2001.

His most significant work to this point is the movie score of Dung Dot (Don’t burn it), a Vietnamese drama which he composed with his brother. The music won the public’s award at the 19th Fukuoka International Film Festival and also was in the Oscar Awards competition in 2010, in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.