Biography

Duo MusicAleph is composed of Pianist/Composer Sandrine Erdely-Sayo and narrator Elizabeth Peña. MusicAleph was conceived in 2012. Their goal was to create a fusion between music and literature, to explore both literature through music as well as music through literature. With the myriad of sounds and the power of words, the duo MusicAleph invites the audience to a musical-philosophical journey. With the recordings of "Platero and I" and "The Dove and the Jaguar". The duo MusicAleph is currently touring the United States performing in various venues including universities and in order to expose young children and youths to classical music, at secondary and elementary schools.

As a recording artist, Sandrine Erdely-Sayo has also recorded the integral piano work of Primitivo Lazaro in 2 CDs. In 2009 she was commissioned by Arabesque Records to compose Platero y Yo, fifteen pieces for piano, to illustrate the poems of Juan Ramon Jiménez, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2012, she produced a new recording of Platero y Yo with narrator Elizabeth Peña. An hour-long program on Fred Flaxman´s Compact Discoveries called ¨Introducing Sandrine¨ was heard on NPR nationwide. In 1996, Sandrine Erdely-Sayo was granted permanent residency as an artist of exceptional ability. She became an American Citizen in February 2007. Sandrine Erdely-Sayo is also a member of the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry and of the Mega Society.

Elizabeth Peña, Narrator and Co-Director of the Piano on the Rocks International Festival, is the director of the Spanish Language School in Philadelphia. After studying sciences in Cali, Colombia, where she was born, she immigrated to the United States in 1991. Her interest and love for languages took her to a different path. She specialized in the field of languages and became an expert in teaching Spanish as a second language. With a great talent in prose and narrative, Elizabeth Peña received a proposal to work with artist Sandrine Erdely-Sayo. In 2010, she narrated Platero y Yo in New York City for the annual NPR Conference, repeating it in 2014 in Carnegie Hall. Since then she has performed Platero y Yo in many parts of the U.S., including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Arizona and in South America. Platero y Yo continues to be a popular attraction at many schools and universities throughout the United States and abroad.

In 2012 Elizabeth Peña, made a recording of Platero y Yo in Houston, Texas with pianist/composer Sandrine Erdely-Sayo followed by a second recording called "Intelligent Series" of The Dove and the Jaguar. With a lyrical and soothing voice, she brings words to life and life to words.

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