Spanish-born, Netherlands-based Sonsoles Alonso was so very much more than just a versatile pianist. Throughout the fifteen-year span of her piano career, Sonsoles grew both as a musician and performer, continually redefining her self and emerging as a major voice in the growing contemporary piano and (live) electronics formats. The care and attention she gave her performances allowed each composition to stand strong individually, making the whole an extraordinary collection. It was as if the opposing temperaments of her classical roots and her innovative, avantgarde wings seemed to generate electricity in the atmosphere, creating a musical experience that was both magic and refreshing. This combined with her alluring personality, sense of adventure and challenging repertoire made each concert a pleasure to the ears and a feast for the eyes.

Influenced by her teachers Anthony de Mare (20th-century piano literature) and Morton Feldman’s disciple Nils Vigeland (20th century analysis), Sonsoles moved to Amsterdam in 1996 to specialize in the interpretation of contemporary music as a soloist and also as a member of various ensembles. She built an impressive career with concerts in Holland and abroad, multidisciplinary projects, and concerts with other musicians and different ensembles. Sonsoles was also an adventurous improviser and worked with live electronics as well. Sonsoles effortlessly interpreted her classical and contemporary repertoires with such unflinching zeal that she managed to do away with all restrictions on her creative output. It was her magical abilities that enabled her to interpret classical repertoire with an understated eloquence and elegance but also enabled her to fiercely attack the piano keys; it has been said of her, “ The highest point of the evening was Luigi Nono’s ‘Sofferte onde Serene’, played formidably by pianist Sonsoles Alonso… ….Alonso brought forth with thunder the most deep and profound caverns of the piano.”…

She collaborated with Fluxus star  Willem de Ridder (Dear Santa…), German superstar Moritz Eggert (Dromomania by Marko Ciciliani , for two grand pianos, electronics and light design), Electra New Music (Electra’s Second Life), Jannie Pranger (P.A.T.), Albert van Veenendaal & Jozef Dumoulin (Traveling Light Piano Trio), Jorrit Tamminga (piano and live electronics), Rosa Ensemble & Hans Dagelet (Selling Hoovers In Mojave, Zappa and Captain Beefheart program) and John Addison & Ville Hiltula (Zorro, new music Tango) and was heard during: Listen to the World (Gothenburg, Sweden), Ton de Leeuw Festival (Tirana, Albania), November Music (Den Bosch, The Netherlands), Gaudeamus Week (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Gentse Vleugels (Ghent, Belgium), Festival Punto Aparte (Murcia, Spain), Randspiele Festival (Berlin, Germany), Rumor Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands), Fundación March (Madrid, Spain), Fundación BBVA (Madrid), Treveszaal (Second Chamber, The Hague, The Netherlands), Headquarters of the ABN-Amro Bank Amsterdam, AKBank (Istanbul, Turkey), Goethe Institut Boston (US), Deep Listening Space of Pauline Oliveros (New Vanguard Series, New York) and with different ensembles during the Gaudeamus Week, de Suite Muziekweek, Festival Spazio Musica (Cagliari, Italy), Festival für Neue Musik (Darmstadt, Germany).

Sonsoles holds degrees in Classical Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Madrid and the Manhattan School of Music (Master’s Degree) in New York. She also studied privately with Vitalij Margulis in Freiburg (Germany) and with Philip Kawin in New York. At the Conservatory of Amsterdam she followed the course ‘Contemporary Music through Non-Western Techniques’ focusing on rhythmic complexity.

Composers who wrote for her include: Peter Adriaansz, Ji Youn Kang, Calliope Tsoupaki, Toek Numan, Chiel Meijering, Kasia Glowicka, Marko Ciciliani, Jorrit Dijkstra, Jorrit Tamminga, Riccardo Massari Spiritini, Zlatko Baracksai, Ben Wallet, Matthijs Janssens and Dietrich Eichmann.

She was often invited to give lectures and master classes on the subject of contemporary music with and without (live) electronics in The Netherlands (HKU and Conservatory of Utrecht). With Jorrit Tamminga she taught in Spain and Germany.

While transitioning from her performing career to her current work as an organizational development consultant, Sonsoles was an advisor to the Performing Arts Fund NL (Nederlands Fonds Podiumkunsten). Work consisted of two tasks: one, evaluating applications for grants in the field of the agile cross-functional performing arts in which the artistic, technical, entrepreneurial and financial were strongly interwoven, and two, managing the process by which a committee awarded the grants as an objective leader. During this period she was also a faculty member of the Speakers Academy, the market leader of the industry of speakers.