Australian pianist Ayesha Gough is developing her own style of unique and engaging performances grounded in traditional pianism. Her passion for finding new ways to connect with audiences has seen her branch out into the fields of improvisation, videography, and creative writing.
As the recipient of the 2022 Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship, she has developed Landings: an exploration of Australian musical identity through improvisation, poetry, and film created within multiple landscapes. Landings is viewable on her YouTube channel.
First prize-winner at the 2015 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Ayesha performed with the Russian National Orchestra in December 2018, under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev, as part of a concert held in memory of Lev Vlassenko. She has also performed with the Queensland Symphony, the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony, and the Queensland Pops Orchestra under such conductors as Edvard Tchivzhel, Nicholas Braithwaite, Daniel Carter, and Marco Bellasi. Her recital opportunities have taken her throughout Australia, as well as New Zealand, Italy, Japan, and China. She regularly works with the Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra and the Gold Coast Chamber Orchestra.
Ayesha studied under Oleg Stepanov for 10 years, both at a pre-tertiary and tertiary level at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. Throughout 2018, she continued study in Italy with Boris Petrushansky at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale “Incontri col Maestro”. In 2020, she graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, with a Masters with Distinction. At RCM she studied with Andrew Zolinsky and Gordon Fergus-Thompson whilst undertaking research concerned with pushing the boundaries of the piano recital.
She has been awarded the Theme and Variations Foundation Award, the Brisbane Club Award, the QCGU Postgraduate Prize, the Ena Williams Award, the Joyce Campbell Lloyd Scholarship, the Allison/Henderson Scholarship, and in early 2017 she participated in the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy. Ayesha has been supported by Variety, the Children’s Charity, of which she is an International Ambassador.