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©2025 Sophia Vastek
EPK
Bio | Press Quotes | Video | Images
"Ghostly, delicate, elegant..." (Independent Clauses)
For Sova — the stage name of New York-based pianist/composer Sophia Subbayya Vastek — the piano has always been home. A second generation pianist, she holds a deep reverence for her collective history, coupled with an exploratory ear, and moves quietly between musical worlds. Over the years, her intuitive playing style — rooted in tenderness, improvisation, and classical training — has evolved into a dynamic, cinematic sound.
Described as performing with "passion and profound tenderness” (Second Inversion) and “serene strokes and lyrical beauty” (Brooklyn Rail), her music is quietly devastating, blossoming into ambient-inspired soundscapes that range from whisper-soft echoes to expressive cascades.
Her most recent LP, In Our Softening (2022), produced by Sam Torres (Polymouth Music), features nine of her own beguiling piano compositions, each track a part of a thoughtfully woven tapestry. Recorded entirely on an upright built in 1902 — complete with a giant crack in the soundboard — the album draws listeners in with its vulnerable and vibrant intimacy. Exploring themes of loss, rebirth, and finding softness within an increasingly hard world, the album has been called “a tender and revelatory balm" by editors at I Care If You Listen, “heaven on earth” (Sun 13), and “one of the very best things I've heard all year” by longtime music journalist Steve Smith (Night After Night). The record also made it onto Bandcamp’s All-Time Best Selling Solo Piano list.
Her debut album, Histories (Innova Recordings, 2017), was produced by Grammy-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse, and described as “a beautiful mosaic of the larger cultural intersections of our world” (Second Inversion). She has also released an EP of the complete solo piano works by composer Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), entitled Lili (2020, reissued 2023).
Equally important to the music itself are the spaces in which Sova’s music exists. Whether she is performing or presenting, she is dedicated to creating musical experiences that are grounded in care and intentional gathering. In that spirit, she is a co-curator of the popular Lift Series at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, currently in its sold-out fifth season. She also hosts concerts in her home — a converted church-space in South Troy called Troy Listening Room.
In 2022, Sova was recognized as a composer by the New York State Council on the Arts and New York Foundation for the Arts (NYSCA/NYFA) as a Music/Sound Fellow, a statewide program focused on the evolution of contemporary art. Her music has been featured on NPR, BBC, and KEXP, and she has performed across three continents.
“Vastek’s delicate, yet powerful playing softly lifted audience members up and gently eased them back down to Earth” -Metroland Now
“Vastek’s fingers fly...with passion and profound tenderness” -Second Inversion
“....a skillful, sensitive pianist worth watching” -Steve Smith, Night after Night
“serene strokes and lyrical beauty” -Brooklyn Rail
Praise for In Our Softening
“demands to be heard...” -The Crack
"Vastek artfully creates a space that is vulnerable, exquisitely performed, and sensitive..." -I Care If You Listen
"Ghostly, delicate, elegant..." -Independent Clauses
"Damaged piano with unexpected past inspires local musician's tender album" -Times Union
"... feels like heaven on earth." -Sun13
“Even if Sophia Subbayya Vastek hadn't had the abundance of heart and decency to reclaim a piano haunted by the spirit of hatred, In Our Softening still would be one of the very best things I've heard all year.” -Night After Night, Steve Smith
“Vastek’s keen exploration of a discarded instrument has yielded hidden beauties and inspired her to create her most compelling music to date.” -Dusted Magazine
The Seas That Made Us - official music video
Hymn for Slowing ft. Sam Torres - live
Quarry - live
Through the Smoke We See Each Other - live
Hum ft. DJDRUMMERNK - live
Burn - live
After Stardust - official music video
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