Budziňáková-Palus, Alena
Slovak accordionist, one of the leaders of the accordion music scene in that country; permanently residing and working in Poland since 2009. She studied at the State Conservatoire in Košice, Music Academy in Cracow, Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien, and with Grzegorz Stopa at the High School of Music Detmold, from which she graduated with distinction. She leads a busy international concert life, performing in Poland and Slovakia, as well as many other countries: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Czechia, China, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Germany, Hungary, and Italy.
Her repertoire ranges from the Baroque to contemporary. She has won many awards in international music competitions, including 1st prizes in Pula (2012), Poprad (2010), and Dunajská Streda (2010). Since 2011 she has performed with Grzegorz Palus in duoAccosphere. In 2019 she appeared as a soloist with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in the premiere of a concerto dedicated to her by Slovak composer Peter Machajdík. She has also given performances with Cracow Philharmonic, Przemyśl Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the PANtonale PhilHARMONIKA Festival at Berlin Philharmonic, the philharmonic halls in Odessa and Košice, Konzerthaus Detmold, Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, European Parliament in Brussels, and National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. She has premiered contemporary accordion works notably by Wojciech Ziemowit Zych, Volodymyr Runchak, Anna Sowa, Grzegorz Majka, Renāte Stivriņa, Peter Machajdík, Kira Maidenberg-Todorova, Tyler Versluis, and David John Roche. She has recorded for record labels (Sarton Records) as well as the Slovak Radio and Television, Polish Radio Rzeszów, the Slovak Rádio Devín, and the German WDR 3.