"Difficult Women...Legends Revised: Music and Stories from the Life of Mel Bonis"

Her music was published over a hundred years ago and then forgotten, only to be rediscovered in a Parisian townhouse by her great-granddaughter more than 75 years later. Pianist Sonya Subbayya Sutton brings the under-appreciated musical voice of Mel(anie) Bonis to life in a program of short pieces named for mythical and Shakespearean women.

This program will be followed by a book signing of Sonya Subbayya Sutton’s book, Difficult Women…Legends Revised: Music and Stories from the Life of Mel Bonis.

Sonya Subbayya Sutton Bio:
Pianist, organist, and conductor Sonya Subbayya Sutton has enjoyed a 40+ year career as a musician in the Episcopal Church. She is also the Music Director of the World Bank/IMF Chorus, and frequently collaborates with other instrumentalists as an accompanist and chamber musician. Sonya has directed choirs in eight European tours and cathedral residencies. She enjoys writing about the intersection of life and the arts, and has published two audiobooks on Audible – with music and stories about French composer Mel Bonis in Difficult Women…Legends Revised and a set of 24 short stories based on music of John Hausserman titled Symphonic Preludes. Sonya earned degrees in piano, organ, and arts administration from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. She lives in Washington D.C. and is married to Eugene Sutton, retired Episcopal Bishop of Maryland. They divide their time between Washington, D.C. and Chautauqua.