Balázs D. Kecskés won the Istvánffy Benedek Prize again

For twenty years, the prestigious organization has awarded the prize annually to a composer under the age of 40, for a composition that premiered the previous year. The Benedek Istfánffy Prize, which is awarded along with 200,000 HUF, was presented by the president of the association Máté Hollós to Balázs D. Kecskés – who had won the prize last year, as well – on 15 October in the Tesla Loft Hall, at the KOMP Contemporary Music Platform concert series (previously known as Mini Festival).

The young composer, who is a lecturer at the Composition Department of the Liszt Academy, has been praised for drawing on the classical music history traditions of past centuries in his compositions, while creating his own, individual world by putting the traditional elements – forms and harmonies – into a new context.

He has a wide repertoire of works, including solo and chamber pieces, orchestral compositions, concertos, and vocal works. Outstanding among his many national and international awards and competition results are the 1st prize won at the Generace composition competition in Ostrava in 2020, also for his work Komm, and the Garth Newel Award, which he won for his piano quartet Accusativus in 2018, selected by the jury from among 90 submissions. This year, he received the Junior Artisjus Award in recognition of his work as a composer.