Pianist Benedicte Palko was born in Stavanger, Norway, to Norwegian-Hungarian parents, and is since 2002 permanently living in Seville, Spain. She chooses her musical projects with care, always true to her heart, and with a desire to live profound musicianship in her relationship with the audience and her musical partners.

Benedicte Palko is well known for her technical brilliance and beauty of tone and melody. Her ability of honest and profound music-making has not gone unnoticed among audiences and press reviews wherever she performs. Chamber music is her great passion, inspired by her teacher, the legendary pianist György Sebök.

Benedicte Palko is a highly sought-after chamber musician and has shown herself to be a highly appreciated partner for many renowned musicians. She performs in duos with violinists Philippe Graffin and Mirijam Contzen, violist William Coleman, cellists Salvador Bolón and Lluís Claret, and flutist Paco Varoch. She also performs together with young, Spanish musicians in chamber music. Giving support to the young generation of musicians is one of her main interests.

As an Artistic Director and Founder, Benedicte has gained a reputation for unique program compositions and exceptional organizational skills. Benedicte ensures that every project and concert she organizes is truly remarkable. Benedicte Palko is the founder and artistic leader of the “International Chamber Music Festival Joaquín Turina”, based in Seville, Spain. Here she has performed with musicians such as Tanja Becker-Bender, Esther Hoppe, Kristóf Baráti, Tobias Feldmann, Gary Hoffman, István Vardái, Julian Steckel, Torleif Thedéen, James Dunham, Yura Lee, Lise Berthaud, José Luis Estellés, Gordan Nikoliç, KUSS Quartet, among others.

In 2020 Benedicte founded the project PALKO & Co, which unites chamber musicians at the highest level, literature, nature, and culinary art on the island of Bru just outside Stavanger, Norway, www.palkoco.no. Invited musicians include Philippe Graffin, Mirijam Contzen, William Coleman, Marianne Thorsen, Lars Anders Tomter, Eivind Ringstad, Øyvind Gimse and Sandra Lied Haga.

Benedicte has given recitals and chamber music concerts and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Holland, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and the USA. In December 2018 Benedicte made her debut in Asia, where she was invited to perform as a Guest Leader in the chamber music series of the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea. Benedicte continued her relations with South Korea in 2019 with great success, performing chamber music concerts in Daejeon, and giving masterclasses at the “Korea National University of Arts” in Seoul.

Benedicte Palko has a sincere pedagogical interest and is very active as a teacher. In Seville, she has her own piano class with students from all over Spain as well as abroad, and she is a professor at MUSIKENE, the superior conservatory of the Basque country, in chamber music. Her students, pianists, and chamber music groups are among the finest young musicians in Spain. She is also invited to give master classes regularly in different Universities/Superior level in Spain, Europe, and Asia, the latest at Mozarteum Universität in Salzburg. Her students, pianists as well as chamber music groups, are among the finest young Biography pianist Benedicte Palko August 2023 musicians in Spain today. In April 2017 she was a jury member of the renowned 59th International Piano competition “PREMIO JAÉN”, and she is regularly also invited to be the President of the jury of the annual chamber music competition “Abate Marchena” in Utrera, Spain.

Benedicte Palko studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Professor Einar Steen-Nökleberg. She continued her studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Professor Jose Ribera, where she completed her diploma and soloist studies with her official soloist debut in November 1998. A US-Fulbright Foundation scholarship made it possible for Benedicte Palko to study with the legendary pianist and teacher Distinguished Prof. György Sebök for 2 years at Indiana University School of Music Bloomington, USA. Here she completed the highest diploma for soloists, the Artist Diploma.

Benedicte has recorded the Sonata in f-minor by Prokofieff and preludes for violin and piano by Shostakovich with violinist Sakari Tepponen and also appears in numerous live recordings for the National Spanish, and Norwegian Radio.