Tamara Stefanovich on 20 Sonatas

Born in Belgrade, Tamara Stefanovich became the youngest student at the city’s university at the age of just 13 when under the tutelage of Lili Petrović. Her talent as a pianist has subsequently taken her across the globe, appearing with such orchestras as The Cleveland and Chicago Symphonies, Bamberger Symphoniker, Britten Sinfonia, London Philharmonic, and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. And Stefanovich has performed recitals at some of the world’s most revered concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, New York, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, and Berlin Philharmonie, as well as our own Royal Festival Hall.

On 27 February the pianist ‘from a country that no longer exists’ adds our Queen Elizabeth Hall to her impressive venue roll call with a three-concert performance which showcases the form of the sonata. As Stefanovich highlights in this video, the concert follows the evolution of this musical form, from the Romantic period to the 20th Century, exploring how those early works cast shadows which continue to stretch out across its more contemporary interpretations.

‘I think the amazing thing that [the] coronavirus [pandemic] has done for all of us is to make very visible what the very essence of things are; without art we’re not human…’

Tamara Stefanovich