Dániel Erdélyi was born in Pécs in 1988. Throughout his musical career, he has conducted numerous prestigious Hungarian and international orchestras and choirs, including the Hungarian National Philharmonic, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkey, the Pannon Philharmonic, the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, as well as the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
He began his studies in the mathematics program at Árpád Fejedelem Secondary School in Pécs, then graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music with degrees in organ and conducting. His professors included such renowned masters as András Ligeti, Tamás Gál, and Péter Erdei. He also attended numerous masterclasses led by Helmuth Rilling, Péter Eötvös, Gergely Vajda, György Vashegyi, Dénes Szabó, Johannes Prinz, Franz Jochum, Howard Williams, and Zsolt Hamar.
As a young conductor, he achieved outstanding results in several national and international competitions. In 2011, he won both the First Prize and a special award at the Debrecen Youth Choir Conductors’ Competition, and later that year he received a special prize at the Pomáz International Youth Choir Conductors’ Competition. In 2012, he was awarded First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Rezső Lantos Choir Conductors’ Competition, reached the semifinals of the Golden Baton – Imre Kálmán International Conducting Competition, and received a scholarship from Keimyung University in South Korea. In 2023, he won Third Prize and the Audience Prize at the Zoltán Kodály International Conducting Competition.
Since 2015, he has been conductor and chorus master of the Hungarian State Opera, and in the same year he was appointed chief conductor and music director of the orchestra of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Since 2016, he has also played a key role in Hungarian choral culture as the founding conductor of the Budapest Central Reformed Church Choir. His honours include the Junior Prima Award (2016), the Tamás Márk Award (2017), and the honorary citizenship of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (2019).
