From Anthem to the Oscar Nomination
For the musician brothers, István Benedekfi and Zoltán Benedekfi the University of Szeged was their Alma Mater, but today they are spreading knowledge as lecturers of the University. The young talents are associated with an own course, a unique performance style and a soundtrack nominated for Oscar.
Zoltán Benedekfi began to get acquainted with the violin at the age of 7, István Benedekfi has been playing the piano since the age of 11. The brothers were enrolled to music school by their mother. Both of them graduated from the Faculty of Music of the University of Szeged.
What opportunities does the Alma Mater provide them with?
’Owing to a scholarship granted by the City of Szeged I could compose the Albert Szent-Györgyi Anthem. The lyrics of the piece specially dedicated to the University was written by László Janik. The premiere in 2012 was followed by the performance with an orchestra and a choir on the Szent-Györgyi Awards Ceremony in 2017, which was an exceptional opportunity’ said István Benedekfi. ’The Faculty of Music is small, therefore the atmosphere is quite cosy. I owe incredibly much to my teacher, Ferenc Szecsődi. We regularly give concerts at the Autumn Cultural Festival of the University, at doctoral inauguration and graduation ceremonies’ István Benedekfi added.
Silent Film with Live Music’, this was the title of the university course instructed by the brothers in 2017. – ‘The improvisatory lesson was the idea of Izabella Füzi, she brought the movies and we provided the music, so in other words while the film was running, we created the music that was appropriate for the given scene in the film. There is a great interest in this course, and 80 students have already signed up this academic year’ the musicians said. The Benedekfi brothers are also known as composers. Their name is associated with the soundtrack of the Oscar nominated film ‘Dung dot’, i.e. ‘Do not Burn It’! The film was set in the Vietnam War of America and its soundtrack won the Golden Dragon Prize at the 19th Fukuoka International Film Festival.
The sentence ‘Two People - Four Instrumental Effects’ has become a trademark of the young talents. ‘The main point is to incorporate instruments that do not belong to our main profile. The violin is accompanied by drum and the piano is accompanied by electric piano or synthesizer. This is how many times the four instruments are played by two people at the same time. It is a unique experience to make music in this way, at the same time it is very intense both spiritually and physically, but the romantic musical tastes that are typical of us can be expressed with this way of performing. We try to influence emotions and passion by music’ the brothers added. It is the enormous melodic world combined with highs and lows that creates deep emotions in many people.
Bernadett Kocsis
Photo: Anna Bobkó