Istvan Horvath-Thomas was born in 1948 in Pecs (Fünfkirchen), Hungary, and studied piano, organ and composition in Pecs and Budapest.

Since 1972 he lives in Germany, received 1989 a prize for his Sinfonietta for full orchestra and was 1991 a guest of the Latvian  Philharmonic in Riga, where his choral work  Kreuzweg  had its world premiere at the cathedral.

Various piano works (Sportszenen, L'espagnol, Bagatelles,...), pieces for guitar, violin, for ten brass instruments (Partita) and arrangements of classical music for brass ensemble were published.

As a pianist he took part  in numerous solo concertos and chamber music performances at home and abroad as well as in radio and CD recordings.

The works of Istvan Horvath-Thomas revolve around vertain compositional principles which are constantly reviewed, changed and developed further. His scientific occupation with folk music is always noticeable to the greatest possible extent. In retaining classical form models Horvath-Thomas makes use of a maximum of different tone colors and possibilities of differentation.