Australian pianist Ayesha Gough is known for her captivating performances, combining superb technique with deeply emotional interpretations. Her performance with the Russian National Orchestra, under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev, was described by Moscow’s Musical Life Magazine as virtuosic and sensitive.
First prize-winner at the 2015 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Ayesha has 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 Coolamon Singers.
Ayesha has developed her own style of unique and engaging performances grounded in traditional pianism. As the recipient of the 2022 Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship, she created the project ‘Landings’, an exploration of the Australian landscape via improvisation, videography, and poetry. More of Ayesha’s compositions can be found on SoundCloud.
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.