Gabor Palotas was born in 1985, Kiskunfelegyhaza, Hungary. He started his percussion studies at the age of seven. In 2009 he got his diploma with master degree and honours as a student of István Szabó, University of Debrecen,Hungary. During his studies he was a member of Sonus Percussion Ensemble, which group performed to Japan, Slovakia, Poland and played many concerts in Hungary. Between 1995-2008, he was a percussionist of the Symphony Band of Kiskunfélegyháza. This orchestra has won a lot of prizes, among them First Prizes in Jastzerbie Zdroj (Poland, 1997), Neerpelt (Belgium, 1999), Differdange (Luxembourg, 2006) and others. This band has got 5 cds, he contributed all the five albums.

 

As a student he won several prizes, the most significant among them are First Prizes in National College Meeting and Competition for Percussion Instruments and Hungarian Rebuplic’s „Republican Scholarship”. He was an active participant of many masterclasses during his studies around the world.

 

Gabor and Matthew Andreini (University of Northern Iowa) founded a very special duo, called Iowa/Hungary Percussion Project in 2012. The goal of this project is to foster the development and performance of new music for percussion duo.

 

The “Marimbiano” ensemble was founded by Bálint Baráth and Gábor Palotás in 2016. One of the goals of creating a duo is to show the similarities between the marimba and piano instruments in their concerts, demonstrating that the two instruments as equals, worthy of each other. In addition, the joy of chamber music and the long-awaited cooperation between these musicians have motivated the project.

 

As a solist he is currently collaborating with composers and other performing artists to broaden the repertoire with new musical compositions. He premiered many solo works for percussion and chamber music pieces by Hungarian and American composers. As a teacher he is already successful, national and international competition winners can be found among his students. He is also active as a composer, he is writing pieces for students mainly, however nowadays he attempts to compose concert stage pieces for percussion instruments.

 

Gabor is currently working as a teacher in Kodaly School in Kecskemet, Hungary, and he is a member of Symphony Orchestra of Kecskemet since 2008.