Dankó Richárd Lajos

Dankó Richárd Lajos was born into a family of musicians in Debrecen in 1996. He began studying music on the violin at the age of three. At ten, he was admitted to the preparatory department of the Kodály Zoltán Secondary School of Music in Debrecen, continuing as a full-time student from the age of fourteen. During these years, his interests expanded beyond the violin to composition, conducting and piano.

In 2014, he continued his studies at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, and in 2016 he was admitted in first place to the composition department of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. He graduated in 2020 with a BA in Composition, studying in the class of Fekete Gyula. In 2024, he earned his composition diploma at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music.

His talents as both a composer and pianist were recognised early in his career. In 2016, he received a special prize at the National Farkas Ferenc Piano Competition. In 2017, he received support through the “Nemzet Fiatal Tehetségeiért” talent programme and was among the winners of the Kodály composition competition of the Liszt Academy. As a result, one of his string quartets was performed by Slovenia’s Dissonance Quartet. In 2018, he won a competition jointly organised by the music academies of Budapest and Ljubljana to commemorate Hugo Wolf.

In 2020 and again in 2021, he was awarded support through the Talentum Hungaricum programme, during which he worked as a mentee of pianist Balázs János. In 2021, together with fellow award-winning musicians, he founded the International Contemporary Consort, where he is active as a composer, pianist and conductor.

As a performer, Dankó Richárd Lajos has also gained extensive international stage experience. He has appeared at the Cziffra Festival as both a pianist and composer, and his concert career has taken him to numerous countries, including Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Latvia, China and Germany.

His catalogue as a composer ranges from solo and chamber music to choral works, concertos and large-scale orchestral compositions. His works include the cantata Nemzeti Dal, Timor et Tremor, Fantasy Quasi Una Klezmer and the symphonic poem TINTI. In 2022, Timor et Tremor won third prize at the HANGKeltő National Composition Competition, while Fantasy Quasi Una Klezmer also received third prize in the composition competition organised by the Firgun Jewish Cultural Foundation.

In 2024, his symphonic poem TINTI was premiered at his graduation concert in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy by the Danubia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serei Zsolt.