András Szalai was born in 1985 in Budapest. He graduated in classical cimbalom performance and composition from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music and is a prizewinner of several national and international cimbalom competitions.

His artistic focus lies in performing early music arrangements, 20th-century music, and contemporary solo and chamber works. Over the past twenty years, he has premiered or performed several pieces by Hungarian and international contemporary composers. Frequently performs works by György Kurtág, who has also composed a solo piece for him. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has appeared at major festivals, including the Budapest Spring Festival, the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and the Haydn Festival in Fertőd.

András Szalai has performed with the Slovenian, Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź, Valencia, Moscow, and Stavanger Philharmonic Orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Helsinki Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, the Plural Ensemble in Madrid, the Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra in Beijing. In Hungary, he has played with the Budapest Strings, the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra, and nearly every symphonic orchestra in the country. He has worked with conductors such as Péter Eötvös, Iván Fischer, Michail Jurowski, Zoltán Kocsis, Ingo Metzmacher, Fabian Panisello, Michael Schønwandt, Walter Weller, Antoni Wit, and Simone Young, as well as performers like Claire Chase, Evelyn Glennie, and Helena Winkelmann. Szalai is a member of the UMZE Contemporary Ensemble.

He teaches composition and music theory at the King St. Stephen Conservatory and cimbalom and chamber music at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. His recordings can be found at Hungarian Radio and Hungaroton. He is a recipient of the Artisjus Prize.

Source: András Szalai (abriged)