Sonja Leipold
Sonja Leipold is a harpsichordist who specialises in baroque, contemporary and rarely heard music. She initially studied flute and piano at the Mozarteum Salzburg, before studying harpsichord and basso continuo with Professor Augusta Campagne at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. With her own ensemble projects, as a soloist and sought-after continuo player, she regularly performs on renowned stages for contemporary and early music in Austria and around the world. She has appeared as a soloist with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Bach Consort Vienna, among others. She is also a regular guest with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Baroque Ensemble of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and reconsil. She is particularly interested in the contemporary harpsichord repertoire.
In collaboration with composers from all over the world, she has created over 120 new works that have been performed in more than 30 countries. She has received several awards and was Austria's cultural ambassador for contemporary music with the ensembles duo ovocutters and airborne extended from 2016 to 2019. Her artistic activities have also been reflected in international CD, film and radio productions, including the 2017 feature film Licht (directed by Barbara Albert) about the Austrian pianist, singer, composer and music teacher Maria Theresia Paradis. Sonja Leipold has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 2015 and has been President of the International Society for New Music Austria since 2019.
In Hans van Manen's Concertante to the music of Frank Martin's Petite Symphonie Concertante in the ballet evening Shifting Symmetries, Sonja Leipold made her house debut at the Vienna State Opera on the harpsichord in 2023.
Performances with Sonja Leipold