English biography
Praised for her excellent concerts and her varied technical skills (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), the pianist Sophie Patey performs as soloist and in diverse chamber music settings in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. In January 2023, she was invited to perform Ligeti Piano Concerto with the conductor Manuel Nawri and the WDR-Sinfonieorchester. Some of her chamber music partners include soloists of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Hessische-Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester and Ensemble Modern. As a chamber and orchestra musician, she performed in the Berliner Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, Laieszhalle Philharmonie Essen, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Oper Frankfurt, ZKM Karlsruhe, Festival Présences in Aix-en-Provence, International Musikinstitut Darmstadt, at the Gasteig and the Prinzregenten Theater in Munich. Her concerts have been broadcasted on the Bayerische Rundfunk, Hessische Rundfunk, WestDeutscheRundfunk, RadioFrance, Radio4Netherlands and on the Swiss Radio DRS.
Following her studies at the Cologne University of Music and Dance under the tutelage of Prof. Dr. Florence Millet, she completed her Doctorate in Musical Arts, in Piano Performance, from the studio of Gilbert Kalish at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where she also received chamber music coaching from the Emerson String Quartet. Contemporary music is one of her specialities. Through her collaborations with composers such as Thomas Adès, Luca Francesconi, Martin Matalon and Johannes Maria Staud, she premiered many pieces and was offered a scholarship at the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt.
Sophie Patey was a Teacher Assistant at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where she taught piano and worked as a collaborative pianist. She has lead master classes in different American universities. She worked as a coach and collaborative pianist at the Oper Frankfurt, the Juilliard School of Music (New York), at the Berlin University of the Arts, at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris (France) and at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, where she also taught contemporary piano techniques. She is currently a piano professor at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in Lyon (France), as well as an official accompanist of the ARD International Music Competition and the International Carl Nielsen Competition. Next to her performing activities, she has coached professionals and young artists to prepare concerts and international competitions.