2024. March 28., Thursday

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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.


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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.


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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

SZTE Experience

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Nikki - Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Studies

My name is Nikki and I am from Iran. Currently I am a second year student studying Physiotherapy at the University of Szeged. I really like the Environment of Szeged as it is a true University City where you can meet people from around the world. I consider Szeged as my second home since I have established my own path here and I have a lot of friends who make me feel home. The reason why I came to Szeged is because I was informed by one of my friends about the fact that the University degrees are EU accredited and will help me to reach my goals and open doors for future job opportunities. Once I have obtained my degree, I would like to stay in Hungary and pursue a post graduate program. Later on I will seize the opportunity to gain some job experience in my field here in Hungary before I hold my ground in Europe.

95930002_620793281842686_908476219798847488_oDianne - Faculty of Science and Informatics

I am a PhD student and a Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship holder from the Philippines. I am currently pursuing my PhD in Environmental Science and I happen to be in my 3rd year of studies. I chose University of Szeged because its one of the top ranked research university in Hungary known for its good reputation in the fields of health and natural sciences. Coming from the Philippines with a warm climate, I had huge preference of Szeged for my studies, the city having the most rays of sunshine and considered to be the warmest place in Hungary. I would advise all the prospective students to join University of Szeged’s diverse and vibrant community! Don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone, try to find and establish your niche in a new place like what I did. I didn’t regret coming to Szeged as it continuously provides me an enabling learning environment for various reasons, has affordable cost of living, very safe and calm university town, organized transport system, beautiful and clean surroundings with the very sightly Tisza River which adds to its appeal, and also holds many festivals throughout the year. After graduation, I am planning to go back to my home institution and continue my teaching duties at the University of the Philippines Los Baños

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