Artist-In-Residence: Sova

About this event

Troy, New York based pianist and composer Sova (Sophia Vastek) has quietly established herself as an “exciting and refreshingly unpredictable” (PopMatters) artist. Born on an Air Force Base just outside Washington, DC to two professional pianists, Sova defied their hopes of her finding a different calling and began playing the piano as soon as she could sit upright. Since then, her intuitive playing style has evolved into a “deeply immersive and cinematic experience” (Expansion Radial) that blends neoclassical, ambient, and jazz sensibilities. Sova delights audiences with the added mystique of touring with her own upright piano, bringing piano music into unexpected settings. Her newest LP, Alight!, is out now on Hout Records (NPR’s Best Albums, Qobuz Editor’s Pick). It has been described as a “study of contrasts, anchored by Sova’s exquisite keys” (A Closer Listen) and “a mesmerizing fusion of neoclassical composition and indie electronic sound design” (Last Day Deaf). The record marks an exciting evolution of her language, involving collaborators Clarice Jensen, Spencer Zahn, Max Yassky, Sam Torres, and Evan Chapman. In a live setting, with her piano in tow, Sova is equally at home in a state-of-the-art performing arts center as she is in DIY venues or on a classical chamber music series. In that vein, she recently opened for Icelandic pop experimentalists múm. At the heart of her live sound is a long-standing collaboration with audio engineer Sam Torres who travels with Sova and provides the detailed sonic thread that links her performances. Her last LP, In Our Softening (2022), produced by Sam Torres (Polymouth Music), features nine of her own beguiling piano compositions, each track a part of a thoughtfully woven tapestry. Recorded entirely on an upright built in 1902 — complete with a giant crack in the soundboard — the album draws listeners in with its vulnerable and vibrant intimacy. Exploring the theme of finding softness within an increasingly hard…

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