About PMI

About us

Led by married couple, Mónika Markovich & Dániel Bolgár, Premier Music Institute is an award-winning (Prestige Awards 2020 - British awarding body) independent international boutique music school offering quality music education in Budapest since 2016.

At PMI we are committed to student-centered education, encouraging creativity, critical thinking and effective, yet fun music practicing.

The student can decide which style(s) of music to pursue, whether to enroll in a music exam, or to study additional music theory - the basics of music theory/solfege are taught through the chosen instrument.

If the student is uncertain which course is right for him/her then it is also possible to change instruments at the following semester.

monika markovich harpist

Harp

Monika received her Master of Music degree with outstanding distinction from the Liszt Academy of Music Budapest in 2010. She has also studied the harp in Vienna, and by winning an Erasmus scholarship, in Brussels with Jana Bouskova.

She has taken part in many competitions (3rd prize winner at the National Harp Competition Hungary) and festivals in Europe.

Before embarking on her harp career, Monika played piano for many years with Gábor Farkas at the Liszt Acacemy and studied music theory/solfege with the legendary Erzsébet Hegyi-Legányné.

She has played at numerous international festivals and has studied with world famous musicians.

Mónika plays concerts mostly as chamber musician these days playing at top Budapest concert venues with Duo Modarp and Duo Lumina.

She has also recently (2022) recorded an album with the Concerto Budapest Orchestra and was asked to perform at their UK tour.

She has been also part of Premier Players chamber formation, their first record was recorded and released in 2019, the second in 2021 (voice & harp) and they have had numerous concerts to date.

This is the ensemble's latest album: https://open.spotify.com/

Besides teaching the harp and solfege to all ages and levels, Mónika is happy to teach piano to beginner and intermediate students.

She is a proud mother of one child.

daniel bolgar percussionist, mastering engineer

Drums/Percussion

Dániel completed his music performance and teaching studies at the RCM London and the LFZE in Budapest in 2012 and 2015 respectively.

Besides these cities, Dániel took percussion/drum lessons in New Jersey, Vienna, Linz and Antwerp. He took part in many festivals and concerts throughout Europe as solo and chamber musician.

Some notable performances: Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall and National Gallery (London), and as drummer of a rock/blues band at the Sziget Festival (Budapest).

Dániel has been teaching for more than 15 years and his students have also achieved success: one of his students was accepted to Berklee College of Music in 2017 and another was accepted to the Music Academy in Zürich and the MdW (Uni for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna). Besides teaching, Dániel enjoys composing when he has time - his percussion piece titled Alone was published in Holland in 2014. He has taught in all of the international British schools in Budapest before working full-time at PMI.

He has been performing as the other half of Duo Modarp and as ocassional member of Premier Players. They have recorded an album together in 2019 and have had several concerts (Dániel engineered the album). Dániel is also founding director and organizer of the international music competitions PMIC & PMIC Pro (www.pmiconline.eu)

In addition, during the past few years Dániel has expanded his career portfolio to include sound engineering (mastering) besides teaching and performing.

For more info: www.dbmastering.eu

Dániel is also a proud father of one child.

clara bystrand singer

Voice

Clara is a Swedish lyric-dramatic soprano with a long list of successful performances across all opera houses in Sweden as well as a few theatres in Europe (Spain, Germany).

She studied at Kulturama Opera Studio and at the University College of Opera in Stockholm.

Clara has received a number of awards as a performer, for example from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Besides the opera, Clara is frequently engaged in concerts - she has toured with Swedish and Danish orchestras in Spain, Denmark and Germany and has also taken part in forming a small Swedish chamber music ensemble.

She has also performed with and was member of Premier Players.

In addition to performing, Clara is teaching both classical and pop/contemporary singing from around the age of 10.

Option of lessons in English, French, Spanish, or Swedish.

She has played the violin in her childhood and plays the drums as a hobby.

Clara is a regular jury member of the PMIC competitions.

She is a proud mother of two children.

olivia, piano teacher

Piano

Olivia started learning the piano at age 7.

She studied piano in Singapore and graduated as one of the pioneering batches there.

Since then, she has lived in the UK, obtaining her Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) and most recently Master of Music (Distinction) from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Her passion for piano extends beyond performing and collaborating, she finds much joy in sharing her knowledge with her students and watching them grow and discover everything musical.

Her journey with piano and music brought her many exciting opportunities and has led her to Hungary where she is now studying (LFZE) and teaching.

mariam violin teacher

Violin

Mariam successfully completed her Masters program at the Liszt Academy of Music in 2022.

In her previous years of education she studied with Rodam Jandieri at Tbilisi state conservatoire and Rainer Kuchl - former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic - at the University of Music and Fine Arts Vienna, Austria.

Throughout her violin performing experience she had the honor to participate in various festivals, masterclasses and workshops.

Some highlights:

concerts under the baton of Takacs-Nagy Gabor, Kobayashi Ken-ichiro, Gianluca Marciano, masterclasses with Jacob Gilman, Janos Rolla.

Huge experience gained by working with the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Korean Symphony orchestras.

Throughout 22 years of being a musician she discovered that one of the biggest joys is teaching.

"Spreading music is very exciting and I hope that I have the chance to guide more and more people into an adventure of this amazing instrument."

janos guitar teacher

Guitar

János holds a music performing and teaching degree from the Music Institute of the University of Pécs where he studied classical guitar and pedagogy. He then went on to study jazz guitar in Budapest.

He has many years of experience in teaching classical, rock and jazz guitar and has taught in quite a few music schools and international schools in and around Budapest.

Despite his rigorous teaching schedule he enjoys writing, composing music.

In 2019, with his colleague he has published a collection of pieces for guitar including their own guitar compositions.

He regularly writes songs and records albums.

János is a truly versatile musician and teacher, playing and teaching almost any genre from classical to rock music and in between.

He is a proud father of a child.

Piano

Natasa is a classically trained pianist and dedicated piano teacher with years of experience in teaching students of all ages and knowledge levels.

She loves to develop individualized lesson plans, motivate students and encourage the love for music.
Natasa is a talented accompanist with experience in working with instrumentalists, vocalists and choirs as well as participating in national and international competitions, auditions, masterclasses and concerts.

She is a proud mother of a child.

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