This years Colly Soleri Rememberance Concert took place this last Saturday and featured renowned pianist Sonya Lee.
Sonya Lee is the daughter of alumnus Doug Lee, who worked with Paolo Soleri during many of the early years of the Cosanti Foundation. Doug is a member of the Cosanti Foundation Board of Directors.
Sonya Lee has garnered a reputation amongst audiences worldwide as a pianist who plays in the grand Romantic tradition as " she delights the audience with a passionate and beautifully accomplished, awesome performance". Ms. Lee performs a diverse repertoire including blockbusters by Beethoven, Liszt and Prokofiev, to the sonatas of Scarlatti and Haydn, as well as works by Japanese and contemporary American composers. Ms. Lee has recently been touted as a cross-cultural ambassador of Classical music for students in other disciplines of the performing arts and was invited as a guest lecturer to speak and perform at New York University's Drama Department.

Ms. Lee has given recital debuts at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Aoyama Hall in Osaka, Japan, at the Honenin Temple in Kyoto, Japan, and has given numerous solo and chamber music performances at renowned concert halls throughout cities in the U.S. including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Aspen, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Abroad, Ms. Lee has performed at the Salle des Colonnes in Fontainebleau and at Bel Ebat Parc in France, and at the Create Center Hall in Osaka, Japan. As a chamber musician, Ms. Lee has collaborated with members of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and with several illustrious alumni of The Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute of Music, and Yale University.

This was Sonya Lee's seventh appearance at the Colly Soleri Music Center.
It was a very cold night and a cheerful audience huddled in blankets and was treated to a delightful and dynamic performance in the open-air amphitheater.
Beautifully played pieces by J.S. Bach, Chopin and Ginastra were followed by a fireball delivery of the "Apres une lecture du Dante" by Liszt, a technically most difficult piece and played by Sonya Lee with passionate ease, perfection.