An enquiring and innovative artist, pianist Élisabeth Pion leads an imaginative career as a soloist, chamber musician & artistic collaborator. Recent highlights include the release of her first solo album with ATMA Classique, as well as being awarded the 3rd prize of the 2023 Rio Piano Festival - Tribute to Nelson Freire, performing with the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira & Roberto Tibiriçá.

Élisabeth will be heard for the first time with the Orchestre Métropolitain & Kensho Watanabe this upcoming January 2024 in a series of performances of Garuta’s concerto. She has made her US concerto debut in 2022 with the Toledo Symphony & Alain Trudel, and has previously played with several Canadian orchestras, such as the Victoria Symphony, the Orchestre classique de Montréal, Arion Orchestre Baroque & the National Academy Orchestra (Brott Music Festival). She has also enjoyed a close collaboration with conductor Thomas Le Duc-Moreau and the Ensemble Volte.

She has been heard as a recitalist in several venues in London, notably making her Wigmore Hall recital debut in 2021. She also made her BBC Radio 3 broadcast debut in 2019 during the BBC Total Immersion day celebrating Nadia and Lili Boulanger.

 

Élisabeth also loves chamber music. In 2023, she was invited to IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music; performed with the Quatuor Cobalt; and presented a concert weaved around Marisol Escobar’s life with the vocal ensemble Les Rugissants, in collaboration with Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In 2022, she gave a solo & collaborative recital with mezzo-soprano Alexandra Achillea Pouta at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall - they subsequently presented Messiaen’s Harawi in Barbican’s Milton Court. From 2020 to 2023, she was the pianist of the De Beauvoir Piano Trio (see Collaborations).

Élisabeth has been active in performing on fortepiano, having worked with Maggie Cole. Her second recording with ATMA Classique, a collaboration with Mathieu Lussier and Arion Orchestre Baroque showcasing Montgeroult & Mozart concertos, will be out this upcoming June 2024. She is also fascinated by classical improvisation & cadenza writing and is furthering her knowledge of those skills with Professor David Dolan.

Among recent accolades, Elisabeth has been awarded the 2022 Choquette-Symcox Award from the Fondation Jeunesses Musicales Canada. In 2018, following her winning the Shean Competition in Edmonton, Élisabeth was named in the CBC Palmares 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30, and was also selected as one of 2018’s 15 Rising Stars from the magazine La Scena Musicale.

Élisabeth is an alumna of the Imogen Cooper Trust and a Young Artist of the Musicians’ Company of London. She also is an alumna of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she worked with Professor Ronan O’Hora. She was made a Guildhall Junior Fellow in 2022/2023, and previously graduated with the Artist Diploma & Artist Masters with the highest mention. She has also completed the 2021/2022 “Conducting from the keyboard” course with Ricardo Castro at the Scuela di musica di Fiesole, and has recently worked with Claudio Martinez Mehner during IMS Prussia Cove 2023. She previously studied in Canada with Francine Lacroix, Suzanne Goyette and André Laplante. She wishes to say thank you to the several institutions who have supported her during her studies, namely the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation, The Musicians’ Company Carnwath Scholarship, The Jane Ades Ingenuity Scholarship, Talent Unlimited UK, and the Fondation Jeunesses Musicales Canada.

She is currently enrolled in the 23/24 Light Course at the Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo with Benedetto Lupo, and will be receiving guidance from Gabriela Montero throughout 2024 as an OAcademy Fellow.

Élisabeth is also the co-founder and co-artistic director of the Festival Unisson in Canada, founded in 2020 with cellist Agnès Langlois, a festival based on Abramovic’s The Artist is Present.

Her strong interests in literature, writing, composition, repertoire research and Tai Chi nurture her musical practice.

LISTEN