Semi-finalist in the Liszt Utrecht International piano competition 2025
Passion and persuasion from Sonya Tulea Pigot at Steinway Hall for the Keyboard Trust.
From the dynamic drive of her Beethovenian Haydn to the capricious exhilaration of Poulenc , there was always a passionate commitment of burning intensity. Finding only a moments peace with the Five Bagatelles by her co- national Carl Vine, and in the sultry improvised beauty of Granados ‘El Amor y La Muerte’ as she burst into the joyous exhilaration of Weber’s ‘Invitation to the Dance’. Almost catching the audience out with Weber’s trick ending, she played three Chopin Nocturnes with robust sentiments of a composer whose heart was yearning to return to his homeland that he could envisage with ever more desperate yearning.
After such boiling intensity Sonya was happy to play the familiar Happy Birthday at a reception afterwards to celebrate three birthdays.
That of Richard Thomas ( administrator of the KT ) ,Leslie Howard ( co Artistic Director and founder trustee of the KT ) and what would have been John Leech’s 100th ( founder of the KT )
A joyous occasion surrounded by friends where Sonya could let her hair down and unwind after such intense music making
Mention should be made of the two cakes that co artistic director Elena Vorotko had made following the secret recipe bequeathed to her by co founder of the Keyboard Trust, Noretta Conci Leech .
Sonya Pigot was a semi-finalist in the Liszt Utrecht International Piano Competition at the TivoliVredenburg, Netherlands. Her performing career has taken to prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, Steinway Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and concert halls throughout Asia, Australia and Europe. While studying at the Royal College of Music she worked with renowned professors including Norma Fisher, Sofya Gulyak, Ashley Wass, Dimitri Alexeev and Ian Jones. She is currently on a scholarship studying for a PhD that explores the relationship between personality and the interpretation of music at the RCM.
In addition to performing for members of the British Royal Family, Sonya has won and taken part in many international music competitions across Australia and Europe, most notably the Busoni International Piano Competition, as a semi-finalist in the Liszt Utrecht International Piano Competition, First Prize in the Grand Prize Virtuoso International music competition, Gold Medal in the Berliner International Music Competition, First Prize in the Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Award Piano Competition and First Prize in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Rising Star Competition.
Sonya has had concert engagements with orchestras since she was 15, most notably performing Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Gill AO and the Perugia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marius Stravinsky in Tuscany.
She has taken part in masterclasses with Alfred Brendel, Boris Berman, John Perry, Ewa Pablocka and Pavel Gililov. Alongside her solo career she is looking forward to performing with the violinist David Nebel, Concertmaster of the Berlin Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2025/26 season.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 