BIOGRAPHIES

Pianist Sunny Ritter began her professional training with Aya Kaukal and was accepted to the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW) at seven years old. She continued her studies with Dr. Michael and Coral Berkovsky on full scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music and with Pietro De Maria at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. Alongside her much-loved teachers, legendary pianists such as Alfred Brendel have given roots and wings to her music through their unforgettable masterclasses. 

Since her first gold medal at six years old, Sunny has triumphed at prestigious international piano competitions in Canada, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Romania, Poland, and Spain. She swept up First Prize and all special prizes at the Steinway International Piano Competition in Hamburg and received the 5,000 Euro Grand Prize at the Mihaela Ursuleasa International Piano Competition in Bucharest. At ten years old, she began competing above her own age level and garnered accolades in the senior categories of international competitions like the Concorso Colafemmina in Italy and music festivals like the North York, the OMFA, and Kiwanis Toronto, where she broke the record set by Glenn Gould as the youngest top prizewinner. Recent distinctions include First Prize at the Paris International Music Competition and the "Goldene Note" for Austria’s top young piano-virtuoso, which led to her starring in an episode of the ORF prime-time TV show "Stars und Talente."

Whether in the Wiener Musikverein or in the Hamburger Laieszhalle, Sunny is at home on the world’s most celebrated concert stages. At eight years old, she made her orchestral début and gave her first full-length solo recital, earning recognition as “a phenomenal child prodigy.” Highlights of her last season include performances with Sinfonia Toronto at the George Weston Recital Hall, her début in the Grand Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus as the winner of the Classicalia Global Televised Music Competition (Junior Division), and four concerts with the Wiener Mozart Orchester in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein. 

Sunny regularly presents solo recitals for humanitarian organizations and was recently dubbed “Viennese Citizen of the Week” and featured on Radio Klassik Wien for her charity initiative, “The Bear Essentials”. The aim of this benefit-concert series is to welcome every refugee child to Vienna with the gift of a teddy-bear.

For Sunny, music is a force for peace and every concert empowers us to mend and transcend our differences. She loves the piano because it’s a kind of magic: These keys unlock hearts. 

Sinfonia Toronto now in its 26th season, has toured twice in Europe, in the US, South America and China, receiving glowing reviews. It has released four CD’s, including a JUNO Award winner, and performs in many Ontario cities. Its extensive repertoire includes all the major string orchestra works of the 18th through 21st centuries, and it has premiered many new works. Under the baton of Nurhan Arman the orchestra’s performances present outstanding international guest artists and prominent Canadian musicians.

Maestro Nurhan Arman has conducted throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and the US, returning regularly to many orchestras in Europe. Among the orchestras Maestro Arman has conducted are the Moscow Philharmonic, Deutsches Kammerorchester Frankfurt, Filarmonica Italiana, St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, Orchestre Regional d’Ile de France, Hungarian Symphony, Arpeggione Kammerorchester, Milano Classica and Belgrade Philharmonic.

Sinfonia Toronto respectfully acknowledges that we work in the Treaty Lands and Territory 

of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation 

and the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee peoples