BIOGRAPHY

János Sebestyén, November 2003.

János Sebestyén was born into a musical family on March 2, 1931 in Budapest, Hungary. His mother was on the piano faculty at the National Conservatory where he began his musical education. His father was a prominent pedagogue and principal cellist of opera orchestras in Göteborg and Budapest. In 1950, while waiting for admission to the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, he joined the staff of the Hungarian Radio. Two years later he entered the Academy of Music where he studied organ with János Hammerschlag and Ferenc Gergely, piano with István Antal and composition with Ervin Major and Ferenc Szabó. He graduated in 1955 with diplomas in all three areas and later attended the harpsichord class of Zuzana Růžičková in Prague. Since this time he has performed regularly throughout Europe, Asia and the United States and has made more than 80 recordings for a number of international labels. He is professor at the Academy of Music where he established the first harpsichord class in 1970. At the Hungarian Radio he was senior music producer until 1994, and he continued to write and host a regular series of broadcasts until 2007. His publications include a biography of Miklós Rózsa, Stories From My Life (1980), compiled from taped interviews with the composer, and Those Radio Years (1995), a history of the Hungarian Radio. He served as President of the Jury for the International Liszt Organ Competition in 1983, 1988 and 1993, and in 2000 for the First International Harpsichord Competition, Budapest. His awards in Hungary include the Erkel Prize in 1967, the Liszt Prize in 1974 and the title Artist of Merit in 1982. In August 2000 he was awarded the Officer's Cross by Hungarian president Ferenc Mádl in recognition of fifty years of service to the Hungarian Radio. International awards include the title Cavalier of the Italian Republic in 1984, the Portuguese title Grande Comendador of the Henrique Infante State Order in 1996 and in 1999 he was awarded the rank of Officer in the Isabella la Católica Order by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. In February 2000 he was awarded the title Cavalier of the Order of the Southern Cross by the Brazilian government, and in December of the same year he was appointed Officer in the Royal Order of the Nordic Star by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.