A native of Hungary,
Árpád Balázs studied composition throughout Europe during the mid-twentieth century, including work with
Aram Khachaturyan and
Goffredo Petrassi. The recipient of numerous national awards, including the Erkel Prize (1970), Hungarian National Artist of Merit (1981), the Gold Medal of the President of the Republic (2000), and the Hungarian Heritage Prize (2002), he is regarded by his contemporaries as one of the standard-bearers of the Hungarian musical tradition of which
Zoltán Kodály was the first master.
