An elegant, whismical
and imaginative tone
— Midi-Libre, France
Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, pianist, composer and Artistic Director of the Piano on the Rocks International Festival, began piano studies at age four and has won numerous prizes across a career that began in Perpignan, France, where she studied with Michèle Puig, Goddaughter of Pablo Casals. 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 solfège. There, she pursued special studies in harmony, counterpoint and fugue. 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 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, 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.
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 has given the world premiere of pieces by Argentinean composers. 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 (Arabesque records) 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).