Prof. Dr. Apagyi Mária a Weiner Leó-, Apáczai Csere János- and, shared with Lantos Ferenc, a Hungarian Heritage-Prize winning artist. She is a Doctor Honoris Causa titled university associate professor at the University of Pécs, and has been a music teacher, pianist and one of the most internationally recognized Hungarian figures in integrated music, visual art education and improvisation training.
Apagyi Mária was born in Kassa (today’s Slovakia) on 11 October 1941, to father Apagyi (Poneváč) Zoltán and mother Apagyi Margit. Her husband, Lantos Ferenc (1929-2014) DLA, was an academic and a Kossuth-Prize winning artist.
In 1960 she finished her studies at the Munkácsy Mihály Girls' Grammar School in Kaposvár, then continued her education at the Pécs Faculty of the Music Teachers’ Training Institute of the Budapest Liszt Ferenc Academy of Musical Art where she completed her piano – solfege teacher's degree in 1964. In 1969 she graduated as an oboe teacher and in 2022 she earned a degree as a pianist at the University of Pécs.