Ildikó Szabó has won prizes at 16 competitions across Europe, including the International Pablo Casals Cello Competition 2014, where she alone won eight prizes. She has also performed with Concerto Budapest, the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Ildikó is the scion of a famous Hungarian family of musicians. She studied with László Mező at the Liszt Academy in Budapest from the age of eleven and attended masterclasses with János Starker before moving to Berlin to study with Jens Peter Maintz in 2011. From 2018, she continued her training in Weimar with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. She completed her studies at Kronberg Academy in July 2023 in the Professional Studies programme. 

The cellist has performed at the Rheingau Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, OCM Prussia Cove, BBC at Hay, Verbier Festival, Piatigorsky Cello Festival, IBF Gran Canaria and Krzyzowa Music, among others. Ildikó Szabó has performed in internationally renowned concert halls, including the Mariinsky Theatre, Elbphilharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Walt Disney Hall, the Liszt Academy and the Palace of the Coast in Budapest. She has performed regularly at the Fondation Louis Vuitton as a prizewinner of Gautier Capucon's "Classe d'Excellence". She has performed under conductors such as Ivá n Fischer, Michael Sanderling, Luciano di Martino, Zsolt Hamar and Leo McFall. 

Ildikó Szabó has realised chamber music projects with virtuosos Arnold Steinhardt, Ferenc Rados, Kirill Gerstein, Tabea Zimmermann and Matthias Schorn, among others.
Szabó has a particular passion for the Hungarian-Transylvanian repertoire - she maintains personal contacts with György Kurtág and Péter Eötvös.This is reflected in her discography: the solo album "Heritage" (2020) - which was nominated for the German Record Critics' Award - features world premiere recordings of works by György Kurtág and Csaba Szabó. 

Her recording project of Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano was released in May 2023 with pianist and long-time chamber music partner István Lajkó and nominated for the ICMA Awards 2024. Since October 2023 she has been a lecturer for chamber music at the HfM FRANZ LISZT Weimar and also teaches cello at the Julius Stern Institute of the UdK Berlin. She is actively involved in educational and mediation projects such as the TONALi school concerts and Community Music at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.