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.