On June 29, 2024, in Warsaw, at the age of 84, the Hungarian-born composer, pianist, improviser, and educator Prof. Dr. Szabolcs Esztényi (1939-2024), honorary doctor of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and honorary member of the Polish Composers' Union, passed away.

He had lived in Poland since 1961. He studied piano under Margerita Trombini-Kazuro and composition with Witold Rudziński (both diplomas with honors) at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw.

Since 1972, he worked as a piano improvisation educator at the Fryderyk Chopin Secondary Music School in Warsaw and at the Music Academies in Warsaw and Łódź.

As a composer and soloist, he performed in Poland and abroad at many festivals (including the Warsaw Autumn, Poznań Music Spring, Warsaw Music Meetings, Musica Polonica Nova Festival in Wrocław, Łańcut Festival, Witold Lutosławski Forum, Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk, Biennale Zagreb, Budapesti Zenei Hetek, Donaueschingen Music Days, Bergamo-Brescia Piano Festival, Festival d’été de Lanaudière in Quebec, Nordiske Musikdage, Recontres Internationales de Musique Contemporaine Metz).

For many years, he collaborated with Ferenc Lantos and Mária Apagyi, creators of creative music-visual pedagogy and founders of the Free Art School in Pécs, Hungary.

In 1988, he received a medal from the Polish Composers' Union for promoting contemporary Polish music. In 1989, he was awarded the "Orfeusz" prize by the Critics' Section of the Association of Polish Musicians for performing Tomasz Sikorski's works at the 32nd International Festival of Contemporary Music "Warsaw Autumn". In 1993, he received the annual award of the Polish Composers' Union. In 1998, he was awarded the academic title of professor of musical arts, and in 2009, he was honored with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by President Lech Kaczyński. In 2023, he was granted honorary membership of the Polish Composers' Union.

Honor his memory!