Piano sonatas are pre-eminent in Bomtempo's oeuvre. They show a diverse range of influences from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven but contain many original features, not least incendiary scalar passages and dramatic hand crossings. Full of lyricism, counterpoint and often exceptional virtuosity, these features reach a peak in the monumental Piano Sonata Op. 20, one of his most demanding piano compositions. Luisa Tender was born in Porto, Portugal in 1977. She studied piano with Anne Mennet, Helena Costa and Pedro Burmester at the Conservatorio de Musica and Escola Superior de Musica e Artes do Espetaculo in her hometown. In 1997 she became a pupil of Vitalij Margulis in Los Angeles, going on to study at the Royal College of Music in London from 2000 with Irina Zaritskaya, obtaining her Master of Music in 2002. She was later awarded the Diplome Superieur d'Execution at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, where she was a student of Marian Rybicki. Tender regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician, and her repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the contemporary.