FOR their final concert in their 2016-17 season, Ripon Cathedral Concert Society presented Ann Tsybuleva, winner of the 2015 Leeds International Piano Competition.

Such was the interest in her appearance the usual performance area in the cathedral quire was switched to the much larger nave.

As I noted at last year’s Northern Aldborough Festival, Tsybuleva’s stage persona is quite formal and she consciously steadies herself (and perhaps the audience, too) before each piece.

Two Sonatas by Scarlatti, K208 and K519, provided the perfect opening, the first beautifully light and measured, contrasting most effectively with the sparkling virtuosity of the second.

Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 2 is not one of his more familiar works, perhaps because it lacks the flow or more obvious structure of other pieces.

Here, the playing was both impressive and passionate but I felt that some of the depth and richness of the lower passages was lost in the variable cathedral acoustic.

Mozart’s Nine variations in C major, K264, though, was another matter altogether, remarkably delicate at times and joyful throughout.

Again this inspired a marked contrast with the following piece, Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 with Tsybuleva giving a convincing and persuasive performance of this challenging work.

An exquisitely light Prokofiev Prelude provided an ideal encore.

The society’s next season begins on October 8; details soon at www.riponconcerts.co.uk.

Anna Tsybuleva also performs in Darlington Piano Society’s new season, details soon at www.dpiano.co.uk.

Peter Bevan