23rd International Festival “Ars vivendi clavicembalum” – SONJA LEIPOLD

Sonja Leipold is one of Austrias most versatile harpsichordists and teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Sonja will perform a concert titled Where, then, do we go… at the opening of the 23rd festival Harpsichord, living art.
This concert is organized in collaboration with Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Program:
Petra Stump-Linshalm (1975)
from Möge die Übung gelingen
I Mindfulness

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729)
Prélude non mesuré from from Suite en re mineur, Pieces de Clavecin, 1er livre

Petra Stump-Linshalm
from Möge die Übung gelingen
II Investigation
III Tranquility
IV Concentration

Ferdinand Tobias Richter (1651–1711)
Toccatina and Cappricio from Suite in D minor

Laura Manolache (1959)
Hommage

Maria Theresia Paradis (1759–1824)
Andante Grazioso from Fantasie in G

Elisabeth Harnik (1970)
Noisy Pearl/s

Maria Theresia Paradis
Presto from Fantasie in G

Marianne Martinez (1744–1812)
Andante i Allegro assai from Sonata da Cimbalo in G major

Jacob Ter Veldhuis (1951)
The Storm for harpsichord and soundtrack

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Allemande – Courante – Sarabande from Suite en re mineur, Pieces de Clavecin, 1er livre

Nava Hemyari (1993)
Fanny

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Menuet – Gavotte – Chaconne – Prélude non mesuré from Suite en re mineur, Pieces de Clavecin, 1er livre

Biography:
Sonja Leipold studied piano and flute at the Mozarteum, and harpsichord with Augusta Campagne at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW).
As an adventurous and experimental harpsichordist, she is constantly searching for new forms of expression: with her ensembles airborne extended, duo ovocutters, and as a soloist, she collaborates with composers from all over the world. She has premiered over 150 new works in more than 30 countries, was part of the NASOM programme from 2016 to 2019, and in 2025 received the Outstanding Artist Award oft he Austrian Cultural Ministry with airborne extended. In 2026 their album Landschaften was nominated in two categories for the German Record Critics’ Award.
She regularly performs with ensembles such as Bachconsort Wien, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, RSO Wien, Ensemble Phace, Cantando Admont, Ensemble Castor and appears at venues and festivals including Wien Modern, Musikprotokoll Graz, Klangspuren Schwaz, the Salzburg Festival, Barocktage Melk, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, the National Opera Houses of Athens, Amsterdam, Cologne, Vancouver New Music, among many others.
She recorded the solo film music for Barbara Albert’s film Licht about Maria Theresia Paradis (ORF/Arte 2017), and is currently performing as a soloist in the production Shifting Symmetries at the Vienna State Opera.
Sonja Leipold is active as a lecturer in contemporary harpsichord music at international universities (including a 2025 residency at Harvard University) and has collaborated with artists such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Emma Kirkby, Marin Alsop, Alessandro de Marchi, and Ingo Metzmacher, among others. Since 2015 she has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and since 2019 she has served as artistic director of IGNM/ISCM Austria.