About the Artists
Sandrine Erdely-Sayo
Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, pianist, composer and Artistic Director of Piano on the Rocks International Festival, began piano studies at the age four and has won numerous prizes across a career that began in Perpignan, France. She continued her musical studies with Denyse Rivière in Paris and with Christian Manen at the Paris Superior Conservatory where she received first prize for specialization in music theory. There, she pursued special studies in harmony, counterpoint and fugue. At fourteen she wrote Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra that were played at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.
She became the youngest recipient of the French Minister of Culture Prize at the age of thirteen, and four years later won first prize at the Scène Française International Piano Competition in Paris. She was also a prize winner at the Ibla International Competition in Italy. In 1990 she came to Philadelphia to study with Susan Starr at the University of the Arts, receiving a master's degree in piano and composition. Her Chicago debut took place at Preston Bradley Hall for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert in 1999, and in 2014 she made her Carnegie Hall debut. She has played the major repertoire by Poulenc, Messiaen and Bartok, performing as a soloist, in chamber music and with orchestras in Italy, France, Spain, Argentina, the United States, and for radio and television in various countries. She was described by Gary Graffman as “one of the finest pianists with exceptional quality who brings a fresh style which is clearly European in approach
An active composer and recording artist, Sandrine has recorded the integral piano music of Primitivo Lazaro for Randolfo Records, as well as music by Poulenc, Liszt, Thalberg, Scriabin, Debussy, Christian Manen, and Piazolla. She made the first recording of Poulenc's early Trois Pastorales (discovered by Dr. Schmidt), that she played at Towson in 1995. As a composer, she has written a number of works including Platero y Yo for piano and narrator and the Hymn to Sedona that was nominated for the American Song-Writing Award. She is also a member of the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry and of the Mega Society. From Bach to Liszt, from Fauré to Yiddish and Contemporary music, Sandrine Erdely-Sayo is an eclectic pianist who handles a range of styles and emotions with the greatest of ease. She has been described as "electrifying" (Philadelphia Inquirer), and as "A pianist with idealism, passion and lyricism" (La Prensa, Spain). In 2023, Erdely-Sayo established the Anna-Maria Moggio International Piano and Voice Competition. Sandrine Erdely-Sayo’s new recording “Majestic Liszt” will be released June 28, 2024 under Navona Records. She is represented by Port-Royal Pinnacle Productions. www.erdelysayo.com
Cynthia Raim
Cynthia Raim who was unanimously chosen as the First Prize winner of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition, has been acclaimed for her concerto and recital appearances throughout the United States and abroad. In summing up the performance that won Raim the coveted Clara Haskil prize, La Suisse (Geneva) noted that “Miss Raim showed a musical nature that has gone far beyond tech nical mastery. Without affectation, without useless bravado, Cynthia Raim has imprinted herself on us and cannot escape our admiration.” Le Monde (Paris) called her “a new Clara Haskil.” Raim has won the prestigious Pro Musicis Award and, in 1987, was the first recipient of the “Distinguished Artist Award” of The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia (America’s oldest continuing musical organization), which was given for “outstanding achievement and artistic merit.”
Raim has made numerous recital as well as radio and television appearances. She has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras in major cities such as Detroit, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Prague, Hamburg, Lausanne, and Vienna. She has also participated in many lead ing international music festivals including Marlboro, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Meadow Brook, Grand Teton, Bard, Mostly Mozart, Santa Fe, Luzern, and Montreux. She has recorded for Gallo, Pantheon, and Connoisseur Society. Before graduating in 1977 from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Raim had won the Festorazzi Award for Most Promising Pianist at Curtis, as well as first prizes in the J.S. Bach International and Three Rivers National Piano Competitions. This is her third appearance at the Piano on the Rocks International Festival.
Jean-Marc Luisada
Jean-Marc Luisada studied piano at the Yehudi Menuhin school in London then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, where in 1977 he won the First Prize for piano in Dominique Merlet's class and in 1978 the First Prize for music in room in Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux's class. He is a laureate of the Dino Ciani Competition (1983) and the famous Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1985).
The pianist received advices from great masters such as Denyse Rivière, Marcel Ciampi, Paul Badura-Skoda, Vlado Perlemuter, etc.
Jean-Marc Luisada has had an extraordinary concert career for more than thirty years. He plays in prestigious venues around the world, Europe of course but also the United States, Canada and Japan. Let us cite Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Salle Pleyel or Salle Gaveau in Paris, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Tonhalle in Zurich, Bozar in Brussels, Herkulessaal in Munich, Wigmore Hall in London, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, as well as at renowned festivals such as Chopin Festival in Paris, La Roque-d'Anthéron Festival, Besançon Festival, La Folle Journée in Nantes, Berlioz Festival in La Côte-Saint-André, La Grange aux Pianos en Berry…
He has performed with such illustrious conductors as Charles Dutoit, Ádám Fischer, Theodor Guschlbauer, Eliahu Inbal, Emmanuel Krivine, Marek Janowski, Yehudi Menuhin, Michel Plasson and Michael Tilson Thomas, with the London Symphony Orchestra, NHK Orchester, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchester National of France, Orchester of Suisse Romande, the Orchester of Toulouse Capitole.
In chamber music, he surrounds himself with Gary Hoffman, Pierre Amoyal, Philippe Bernold, the Talich and Modigliani Quartets, the Fine Arts Quartet, etc.
He has recorded several discs for Deutsche Grammophon and Sony (RCA), in particular Waltzes, Mazurkas and Chopin's Concerto No. 1 in E minor in its original version with the Talich Quartet and double bassist Benjamin Berlioz; the Goyescas by Granados, The Story of Babar by Poulenc with Jeanne Moreau and Sacred Fire with Macha Méril.
A disc dedicated to Schumann, rewarded with rave reviews including a Choc from Classica magazine, precedes a recording of Schubert's Sonatas D.840 and D.960, which marks the start of a collaboration with the La Dolce Volta label.
With works by Rota, Mahler, Mozart, Brahms, Joplin and Chopin, the latest album Au cinéma ce soir pays homage to his parents, to the cinema masterpieces which marked his existence and nourished his life as an artist.
Alongside this concert activity, Jean-Marc Luisada teaches at École Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris.
Jean-Marc Luisada is Officer des Arts et des Lettres.
Madeleine Hehn
Madeleine Hehn is a piano student of Jean-Marc Luisada at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and of Sandrine Erdely-Sayo with whom she also studies musical writing. Madeleine is a two time finalist with the Philadelphia Orchestra Greenfield Competition, and a first prize winner of the Boulder Bach Festival World Bach Competition. She is also a scholarship recipient of the Chopin Foundation’s Young Pianists Scholarship Program, and received an honorable mention from the XII Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, Ct. As a competition winner, Madeleine has performed with the Warminster Symphony Orchestra, the Washington International Piano Festival Young Artist Concert Series, and the Lancaster International Piano Festival. Madeleine has also performed at the Piano on the Rocks International Festival in Sedona, AZ as recipient of the festival’s Young Artist Award.
Sonja Bruzauskas
Sonja Bruzauskas received her undergraduate diploma in Voice, Acting and Dance in Germany where she was born and raised and her Master of Music degree with Marlena Malas in the United States. Sonja made her professional Opera debuts singing Hänsel in ‘Hänsel und Gretel’ with the Nordharzer Staedtebundtheater as well as Nancy in ‘Martha’ with the Staatsoperette Dresden, Germany, where she was under a full-time soloist contract for several years prior to her move to the United States. In the U.S. Sonja made her debut covering Beatrice in ‘Beatrice et Benedict’ and singing the Maidservant in ‘Simon Boccanegra’ during her stay as Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera.
Sonja’s repertoire embraces a wide range of operatic roles (Rosina in ‘The Barber of Seville’, Hänsel in ‘Hänsel und Gretel’, Nancy in ‘Martha’, Beatrice in ‘Beatrice et Benedict’, Orlovsky in ‘Die Fledermaus’, The Mother in ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors’, to name a few), Musical Theatre ( Eliza in ‘My Fair Lady’, Anita in ‘West Side Story’, Mary Magdalene in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’), as well as Concert (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Händel’s Messiah, Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, St. John’s Passion, Christmas Oratorio, Caldara’s Christmas Oratorio, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Durufle’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky and many more). Appearances include the Staatsoperette Dresden, the Santa Fe Opera, Volkstheater Rostock, Nordharzer Staedtebundtheater, Babelsberger Filmorchester, Bochumer Symphoniker, Baton Rouge Symphony among others. Recent appearances include the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Da Camera, the Bach Society, Mercury the Orchestra redefined, the Greenbriar Consortium, the Houston Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Chamber Choir, ROCO and The Roundtop Institute. Sonja is also an active and passionate recitalist, specializing in German Art Song and contemporary repertoire.
Sonja has sung and lectured at institutions such as Cal Arts, Vanderbilt, LSU, Rice University, the University of Houston, the Philosophical Society of Houston, Grinell College, as well as numerous health institutions. She has served on the board of directors for the Houston Chamber Choir, the Philosophical Society at Rice, the Houston Tuesday Musical Club and the German Center Houston and Ars Lyrica Houston. She teaches collaborative projects for CSSSA at at CalArts, Los Angeles, she serves as director for the Theatre Forum at Round Top and is the founder and director of pARTnerschools, a project that connects students through the Arts to empower diversity and strengthen communities.
Elizabeth Peña
Elizabeth Peña, Narrator and Co-Director of the Piano on the Rocks International Festival, is currently the director of the Spanish Language School in Philadelphia. After studying in Cali, Colombia, where she was born, she immigrated to the United States in 1991. Her interest and love for languages took her to a different path. She specialized in the field of languages and became an expert in teaching Spanish as a second language. With a great talent in prose and narrative, Elizabeth Peña received a proposal to work with artist Sandrine Erdely-Sayo. In 2010, she narrated Platero y Yo in New York City for the annual NPR conference, repeating it in 2014 in Carnegie Hall. Since then she has performed it in many different states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Arizona.
In 2012 Elizabeth Peña, made the recording of Platero y Yo in Texas with pianist/composer Sandrine Erdely-Sayo followed by a second recording called "Intelligent Series" of The Dove and the Jaguar. With her lyrical voice, she brings words to life and life to words.
Connor Chee
Originally from Page, Arizona, Navajo pianist Connor Chee is known for combining his classical piano training with his Navajo heritage. Chee began piano lessons at age 6 with Sue Barney, and later Debbie Mitchell. At age 10, his family relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts. While there, he studied under Anna Weinstein and Simon Goykhman. At age 12, Chee won a gold medal in the World Piano Competition’s Young Artist Division, earning him his first performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. In the following years, he went on to win multiple awards in the World Piano Competition, earning performances at the United Nations, and an international feature on CNN. While in Cincinnati, Chee performed with the Cincinnati Pops, the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. At Age 17, he graduated from the School for Creative and Performing Arts, and began studies at the Eastman School of Music under Professor Rebecca Penneys. Chee received his Bachelor of Music from Eastman in 2009, and went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, studying under Professor Elizabeth Pridonoff. Chee was Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.awarded a First Prize in the 2016 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, and performed in the winners' recital at Carnegie Hall. Chee has released 3 studio albums of original pieces and piano transcriptions of Navajo music. The Navajo Piano won Best Instrumental Recording at the 16th Annual Native American Music Awards, and his piece “Beginnings” won Best New Age Song. In addition to winning Best Instrumental Recording, Chee was also nominated for Best New Artist and Record of the Year. Chee’s most recent release, Scenes from Dinétah, features piano pieces written about elements of Navajo life and culture. It has been accompanied by the release of several music videos filmed on the reservation, directed by Navajo filmmaker Michael Etcitty Jr.
Chee is currently a voting member of The Recording Academy (the GRAMMY® Awards), and continues to perform throughout the United States. He is currently located in Phoenix, Arizona.
Sara Catarine
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, she graduated with a Singer’s diploma from the Juan José Landaeta National Conservatory of Music in 1990, under the guidance of Aída Navarro Baldivián. She completed her vocal improvement with summa cum laude degrees at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and a Professional Studies Certificate in Voice Performance as a Doctoral Course and obtained the Master of Music in opera from The University of The Arts in Philadelphia under Mignon Dunn and Vivian Wagner. She studied piano with Erna Mühlbauer and Harriet Serr. Sara Catarine has sung with San Francisco Opera Center, Western Opera Theater, New York City Opera National Company, Cincinnati Opera, Nevada Opera, Opera Delaware, among many others and with Venezuelan opera companies, in more than 100 cities in the USA, Festival NotoMusica in Italy and in the Dominican Republic. In opera, she has sung more than 400 performances in the headlines of Tosca, La Bohéme, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, Die Fledermaus, Le Villi, L'Elisir d'Amore, L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, El Tambor de Damasco and zarzuelas Los Gavilanes, Las Leandras and La Corte de Faraón. In 2018 she made her Colombian debut at Ópera de Colombia as Marianne ópera Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, covered the role of Cio Cio San in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and performed Berta in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
She has been directed by Giuseppe Sinopoli, Patrick Summers, Helmuth Rilling, Michal Nesterowicz, Manuel Hernández-Silva, Michelangelo Veltri, George Cleve, Joseph Colaneri, Randall Behr, Karen Kamensec, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Rodolfo Fischer and Alejandro Roca; the Venezuelans Carlos Riazuelo, Alfredo Rugeles, Pablo Castellanos, Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Vásquez, Rodolfo Barráez, Rafael Payare, Isabel Palacios, Alberto Grau, María Guinand and Natalia Luis Bassa. Among the master coaches, she worked with, there are figures such as Joan Dorneman, Warren Jones, Nico Castel, Michael Eliasen, Terry Lusk, Madalit Lamazares, Gary Magby, Kenneth Merrill, Will Crutchfield, Lucy Arner and Carlos Urbaneja. She received first prizes in the Alfredo Hollander '94 (Venezuela) competitions; Jay Speck 1991 and Leontyne Price Vocal Artists Competition ‘91 (USA). With San Francisco Opera she won the Jane Donnell Memorial Award '91 and James Darwin Memorial Award '91; the University of The Arts Solo Competition and the President's Award from Manhattan School of Music '96.
In the symphonic genre, she has sung Beethoven's Choral Symphony No. 9, R. Strauss' Four Last Songs, G. Mahler's Symphonies 2, 4 and 8 and C. Orff's Carmina Burana; masses and passions of Bach, masses and motets of Mozart, Stabat Mater of Pergolesi and Rossini, the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi; contemporary music such as “O King” by Luciano Berio, West Side Story by L. Bernstein. As a vocal coach, she coached musicals such as The Producers by Mel Brooks, Jesus Christ Superstar and sang inThe Fiddler´s on The Roof with Palo de Agua Productions in Venezuela. In Colombia, 2017, she prepared the diction and technique of the Youth Philharmonic Choir of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra for the opera “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein. In Venezuela she was a singing teacher at the Simón Bolívar University (Master of Music), José Ángel Lamas, Lino Gallardo and Juan Manuel Olivares Schools of Music in Caracas. She taught as Expert Voice Teacher at the National University of Colombia from 2022 through 2024.
She did an outstanding work at the Simón Bolívar Conservatory of Music and the Singing Academy International Division of the National System of Youth Orchestras of Venezuela, with whom she collaborated as a soloist and teacher for 15 years for remembered maestro Dr. José Antonio Abreu. Her collaborative and social work continued in Colombia with the foundation of FUNDIMUSICOL, Foundation for the Musical Integration of Colombia, creating a choir of Colombian returned citizens and Venezuelan migrants (2019-2023).
She celebrated her 30-year career in recital with the North American pianist Annette DiMedio at Teatro de Bogotá in 2019. In May 2023 she performed to public and press acclaim at the Piano on The Rocks Festival in Sedona, Arizona, accompanied by the prominent French-American pianist Sandrine Erdely-Sayo and Madelaine Hehn. She is currently a Voice Teacher and director of the Opera Workshop at Universidad Central of Bogotá, and Vocal Advisor of the National Choir of Colombia, National Association of Symphonic Music, Colombia. In Venezuela and the United States she was vocal advisor to the choirs: Koleinu Choir of Unión Isaraelita of Venezuela - Confederation of Israelite Unions of Venezuela, Choir of the Portuguese Centre, Baroque Camerata of Caracas, Schola Cantorum of Venezuela and she founded and directed the choir of the Manhattan Bible Church in New York City from 1997 to 1998.
Barbara Di Toro
BARBARA DI TORO, soprano,has been a part of the Piano on the Rocks family since 2016 and is thrilled to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Her operatic roles have included Susanna in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, the First Lady and Papagena in Mozart’s Magic Flute, Monica in Menotti’s The Medium, among others.
Barbara has appeared in musical theater productions in the Philadelphia area, her favorite roles being Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and Tuptim in King and I. She continues to enjoy sharing her musical gifts with her local communities by presenting solo recitals and chamber ensemble performances at area retirement communities and by serving weekly as a soloist and a leader of song at three different churches.
A passionate educator, Dr. Di Toro’s teaching experiences over the years have included being lecturer in voice at the collegiate level, music director and co-producer of high school musical theater productions, a classroom music instructor at the elementary and pre-school levels as well as providing individual voice lessons to teens and adults. Her educational achievements include a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration, Bachelor and Master Degrees in Vocal Performance all from Temple University, and a Bachelor degree in Elementary Education from Holy Family University. In 2018 Barbara retired from her duties as Associate Director of Temple Music Prep and is enjoying time with family and friends and, as always, continues to share her love of singing. She dedicates her performances during this year’s festivals in loving memory of her dear husband, Anthony, who was her most devoted supporter throughout their 44 years of marriage .