Pianist Élisabeth Pion Named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month

Last fall, Canadian pianist Élisabeth Pion was named Gold Laureate of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious awards of its kind. The coveted Honens Gold carries a C$100,000 prize along with a three-year artist development program designed to launch an international career.

“Hearing Élisabeth Pion’s account of the Third Prokofiev Concerto with the Calgary Philharmonic, I was struck by her bright but controlled energy—dazzling without strain, lyrical yet spiced with attitude and wit,” writes Thomas May, profiling Pion, who is Musical America’s New Artist of the Month. “She moved easily among Prokofiev’s contesting moods without resorting to mannerism. The technique never drew attention to itself but was simply there, in service of a personal way of playing that convinced me she had something to say about this ultra-familiar score.”

Recently turned 30, Pion grew up in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, and began piano early, but only committed to it professionally in her late teens, after pursuing interests beyond music. She went on to study in Montréal before moving to London, where she is now based, completing her training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

This month, Pion presents several recitals in Canada, performs Mendelssohn’s First Concerto with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and a program of Beethoven concertos with the Arion Orchestre Baroque — a collaboration that will culminate in a complete Beethoven concerto cycle on disc, to be released by the end of 2027. More immediately, June brings a recording of Ravel’s G major Concerto and a solo album on the Steinway & Sons label.

Looking back on the past year, Pion admits: “You win a big competition, and honestly, you feel a bit lost. After so many years in the circuit, you wonder: what did you aim for?” What matters most, she suggests, is maintaining a sense of development.

Read the full piece here.