FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Sofya Gulyak as associate professor of music in piano, effective Aug. 1, 2023, pending approval of the IU Board of Trustees.
Gulyak is currently professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London.
In 2009, she was awarded first prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal at the 16th Leeds International Piano Competition, the first woman to achieve this distinction. Since then, she has appeared internationally to great public and critical acclaim.
Gulyak has won many other prestigious awards, including numerous first prizes, such as from the Kapell, Maj Lind and Tivoli international piano competitions, second prize (first not awarded) at the Busoni International Piano Competition and third prize at the Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition.
“Sofya Gulyak is a powerful and internationally acclaimed performer and teacher,” said Abra Bush, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “Her elite, global reputation will help to continue to attract the most gifted students to Jacobs as she continues to teach full time and concertize around the world. We are delighted to welcome her to our faculty and to Bloomington.”
Born in Kazan, Russia, Gulyak studied at the Kazan State Conservatoire under Elfiya Burnasheva before continuing her studies with Boris Petrushansky at Imola Piano Academy in Italy and Vanessa Latarche at the Royal College of Music in London.
Gulyak has performed in the world’s most renowned venues, including the La Scala Theatre in Milan, Wigmore Hall in London and Konzerthaus in Berlin, among many others. She has played with the world’s most renowned orchestras, such as the London Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Shanghai Philharmonic, under conductors including Mark Elder, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Sakari Oramo, to name a few.
Gulyak’s 2013 recording of Russian piano music on Champs Hill Records received a five-star review in Diapason magazine and glowing reviews in Gramophone and The Guardian. Her 2015 all-Brahms CD (on Piano Classics) led the American Record Guide to draw comparisons with the young Martha Argerich and Fanfare magazine to hail her as “a natural Brahmsian, whatever his moods.”
Her latest CD (on Champs Hill Records) of piano chaconnes was welcomed by The Arts Desk as “a fascinating collection, superbly realised and beautifully recorded.”
“Sofya Gulyak is a champion of the great Russian school of piano playing, which will enhance and enlarge the diversity of our Piano Department,” said Norman Krieger, chair of the department. “We are thrilled to welcome her to the Jacobs School of Music.”