Competitors

Élisabeth Pion

Year of birth: 1996
Country: Canada

The pianist Élisabeth Pion, born in 1996 in Quebec, Canada, is active as a soloist, chamber musician, and artistic collaborator. Based in London, Pion graduated with an artist diploma and the highest honours from the UK’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she studied as a full scholarship holder from 2018 to 2022 with R. O’Hora. She had previously worked in Canada with F. Lacroix, S. Goyette and A. Laplante, and graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in 2018 with the Prix avec Grande Distinction. Pion has been part of the Imogen Cooper Music Trust since 2020, and worked privately with Dame Imogen Cooper in the years since. In 2021, she made her Wigmore Hall solo recital debut, and in January 2022 she presented a solo and collaborative recital with the mezzo-soprano Alexandra Pouta at Carnegie Hall’s Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall. She has performed as a soloist with the Victoria Symphony, the Orchestre classique de Montréal, the Ensemble Volte, the Orchestre de l’Agora, Arion Orchestre Baroque and others. Pion is passionate about chamber music and is a member of the De Beauvoir Piano Trio, a group that was recently awarded the 3rd prize at the IX. Vainiunas Chamber Competition in Lithuania. She is also the co-director of the Unisson Festival in Canada, which works at creating an immersive experience between a single listener and a musician.

Programme

Round 1
F. H. Mendelssohn: Lied for piano No. 1, Op. 8
L. van Beethoven: Piano sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”)
F. Schubert, arr. F. Liszt: Gretchen am Spinnrade, transcription for piano
F. Schubert, arr. F. Liszt: Auf dem Wasser zu singen, transcription for piano
F. Schubert, arr. F. Liszt: Erlkönig, transcription for piano
C. Debussy: L’isle joyeuse, for piano, L. 106

Round 2
M. Bonis: Mélisande, op. 109 (Femmes de légende)
M. Bonis: Omphale, op. 86 (Femmes de légende)
R. Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
T. Adès: Berceuse from »The Exterminating Angel«, for piano
S. Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 (“War Sonata 1”)

Round 3
S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Awards received

  • Choquette-Symcox Award, Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation, Montreal, Canada, 2022
  • Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, United Kingdom, 2020
  • the Silver Medal, Musicians’ Company, London, United Kingdom, 2019
  • the Banque Nationale Award, Competition Prix d’Éurope, Montreal, Canada, 2018
  • 1st prize, Shean Piano Competition, Edmonton, Canada, 2018
  • 1st prize, Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, Cape Vincent, United States of America, 2014

Photos

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