Sandrine Erdely-Sayo

Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, pianist, composer, Artistic Director of Piano on the Rocks International Festival and Executive Director of the Anna-Maria Moggio International Piano Competition made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2014 and Chicago Debut in 1999.
She began piano studies at the age four and has won numerous prizes across a career that began in Perpignan, France, where she studied with Michèle Puig. She continued her musical studies with Denyse Rivière and Christian Manen at the Paris Superior Conservatory where she received first prize. At fourteen she wrote Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra that were played at the Châtelet 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. She has played the major repertoire by Poulenc, Messiaen, Bartok, performing as a soloist, in chamber music and with orchestras in Italy, France, Spain, South America, 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. Very active in contemporary music, Sandrine has also recorded works by contemporary composers as Powehi for two pianos and narrator by Anna Rubin.
As a composer, she has written a number of works including Platero y Yo for piano and narrator commissioned by Arabesque Record 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.
Her new CD, Majestic Liszt, was released in June 2024 by Navona Records.

Sandrine Erdely-Sayo is a Steinway Artist.