Last month, Russia’s Sofya Gulyak was awarded the 1st prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal at the Sixteenth Leeds International Piano Competition – the first woman to achieve this distinction in the history of the competition. She returns to Leeds on Saturday 14 November to perform Mozart Piano Concerto No 18 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. 

As well as the prestigious Leeds competition, Sofya Gulyak has won prizes at the William Kapell International piano competition (USA), Maj Lind Helsinki International piano competition and the Tivoli piano competition (Copenhagen). She studied at Kazan’s Special Music College for gifted children, Kazan State Conservatoire, Italy’s Piano Academy and the Royal College of Music.  

Conducted by David Hill, this concert will also include a performance of Haydn’s Kleine Orgelmesse and Mozart’s Requiem featuring Leeds Philharmonic Chorus. Mozart was commissioned to write the Requiem for Count von Walsegg, who wished to claim it was his work in honour of his recently deceased wife. However, Mozart was ill when he started the composition and the stress of the enormous amount of work took him to his grave, leaving his student, Sussmayr to finish it off. Only the opening movement was fully complete, which has lead many musicologists to speculate on how much of it was actually from Mozart’s pen. 

Mozart’s Requiem will feature soprano Sarah Fox, winner of the John Christie Award in 2000, British-Canadian mezzo-soprano Sarah Fryer, who has sung extensively in Europe and North America, Tim Robinson (tenor) who was a choral scholar at New College, Oxford, and Roderick Williams (bass), who has enjoyed close associations with Opera North and Scottish Opera.  

Widely recognised as one of the leading choral directors in the UK, this evening’s conductor, David Hill, is Chief Conductor of The BBC Singers, Musical Director of The Bach Choir, Chief Conductor of the Southern Sinfonia and Music Director of the Leeds Philharmonic Society. Born in Carlisle and educated at Chetham’s School of Music, he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the remarkably young age of 17. Having been Organ Scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, David returned to hold the post of Director of Music from 2004-2007. Conducting The Bach Choir, he has contributed to the film soundtracks of The Chronicles of Narnia and Shrek the Third. 

Tickets for this concert are priced from £14 - £27.50 (concessions available) and can  be purchased from the Box Office on 0113 224 3801 or online at www.leedsconcertseason.com. 

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