Artist database

István Polónyi was born in 1965 in Szolnok. He obtained his diploma at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in 1989, where his teachers were Mária Vermes and Mária Zs.Szabó. Between 1986 and 1989 he was violinist in the Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra, between 1989 and 1992 in the Regie Cooperativa International Symphony Orchestra in Porto. Throughout his career, he has won several national and international competitions. He placed first and second in the National Viola Competition, and took first and third place in the Tibor Varga National Violin Competition, where he also received the award for his work as a preparatory teacher. He is the recipient of the gold diploma and special prize at the Rados Violin Competition in Budapest. He placed third at the Bohdan Warchal International Violin Competition, and won first, second, and special prizes, as well as the teacher’s award, at the National Zathureczky Memorial Competition.

He has been teaching violin and viola in the István Music Secondary School of Budapest since 1992. Between 1997-2002 viola section leader of the Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, he has held the same position since 2002 in the Weiner-Szász Chamber Orchestra. István Polónyi is a frequent participant in productions of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. In recent years, his students have repeatedly placed at the top of national competitions and, almost without exception, have been admitted to the Academy of Music. In addition to individual development, he places great emphasis on chamber music and founded the Szent István Chamber Orchestra.

For his outstanding work as a teacher, he was awarded the MOL Master-M Prize in 2018.