Marouan Benabdallah

Concert pianist, Yamaha Artist, and piano faculty member at the Budapest Liszt Academy of Music

Marouan Benabdallah was born in Rabat to a Hungarian musician mother and a Moroccan physicist father. With a musical heritage deeply rooted in the Hungarian tradition, he received his formal training at the Bela Bartok Conservatory and the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest under the guidance of Gabor Eckhardt, Kalman Drafi and Sandor Falvai. In parallel, he was mentored for over a decade by the legendary pianist and pedagogue Ferenc Rados.

He first attracted international attention in 2003, following his triumphs at the Hungarian Radio Piano Competition and the Andorra Grand Prize. More recently, he was a prizewinner at the Hilton Head Piano Competition in the United States and the Arthur Rubinstein Master Competition in Tel-Aviv, where local media proclaimed his playing miraculous.

Marouan Benabdallah has been praised for his stunning natural virtuosity by Nice-Matin, delicate stylishness by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a compelling sense of momentum by The Washington Post, and resourceful pianism, lyrical instincts and thoughtfulness by The New York Times. He has been invited as guest soloist by numerous orchestras in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, and has collaborated with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Zoltan Kocsis and Ivan Fischer.

He has performed on major stages around the world, among them the Great Hall of the Franz Liszt Academy and the Palace of Arts in Budapest, Salle Cortot in Paris, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Oriental Art Centre in Shanghai, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Maison Symphonique in Montreal, the NCPA in Mumbai, the Cairo Opera House, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London.

Marouan Benabdallah makes his home between Budapest, Rabat and Paris. He is a Yamaha Artist and serves on the piano faculty at the Budapest Liszt Academy of Music.