Péter Tornyai was born in 1987 in Szeged, Hungary. As a composer he studied in his native city with Lajos Huszár and then in Budapest with István Fekete Győr. He graduated in 2012 as a student of Zoltán Jeney at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, where he also studied violin with István Kertész. His most important chamber music teachers were Balázs Arnóth, Gábor Csalog, János Rolla and Rita Wagner. In 2012-13 he studied with Matteo D’Amico at Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. In 2013 he started his doctoral (DLA) program at the Liszt Academy of Music.

As a violinist and violist he often plays classical and contemporary music with chamber ensembles such asTHReNSeMBle, Ludium Ensemble (specializing in Kurtág’s music), Rondo Quartet, Classicus Ensemble (Artist in Residence of Central European University), Qaartsiluni Ensemble.

As a composer, Péter has won numerous awards, including:  2013: 2nd prize at the chamber ensemble category of New Hungarian Music Forum Composer Competition (UMZF), and  special prize of Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation; 2012: 1st prize at the composing competition  „Towards the Next 100 Years” of Wiener Konzerthaus (string ensemble piece); 2011: 1st prize and two special prizes at the chamber ensemble category of New Hungarian Music Forum Composer Competition (UMZF). He was commisioned to write the compulsory piece of the 1st International Végh Sándor String Quartet Competition.  2011: Gerhardus-prize at St.Gellert Festival in Szeged for his string quartet (played by Stadler Quartet); 2010: composer prize awarded by members of Klangforum Wien at ISA, Austria; 2008, 2009, 2010: 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes at the Composition Competition of Liszt Academy; 2008: 1st prize of the Compositon Competition of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

He was participant of the masterclasses and seminars of Gyula Csapó, Johannes Schöllhorn, Nigel Osborne, Krzysztof Penderecki, Larry Polansky, Louis Andriessen, Fabio Nieder, Marc André, Péter Eötvös, Luca Francesconi and Kim Kashkashian. His pieces were performed by the JACK Quartet, Stadler Quartet, Benyounes Quartet, Kelemen Quartet, UMZE, Hungarian Radio Symphonic Orchestra, etc., in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria (at Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Vienna), Germany, Italy, Poland, USA and New Zealand.