Ivana Gavrić is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist distinguished for her deeply expressive musicianship, rich tonal shading and imaginative narratives that turn programmes into discoveries. From Schubert to Janáček, Grieg to Ravel, Haydn to Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Ivana reveals unexpected connections across composers, eras and traditions, maintaining a spirit of musical adventure for her listeners.

 

Creating a sensation with her debut at the Wigmore Hall and album In the Mists in 2010, Ivana has since performed at major venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, KKL Luzern, Berlin Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zürich, Gilmore Piano Festival in the USA and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. As a concerto soloist she has performed with the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, working with conductors including Rafael Payare, Nicholas Collon, Christian Kluxen, Karin Hendrickson and Ben Gernon. Ivana especially enjoys the intimacy and immediacy of playing with chamber orchestras, and highlights to date include curating projects with Aurora Orchestra, Trondheim Soloists and City of London Sinfonia. 

 

Influenced by the melting-pot of cultures of cities she calls home – London, Sarajevo and Zürich – Ivana focuses on composers like Janáček, Grieg and Chopin who weave the landscape, dance, and folk music of their homelands into a distinct voice. Committed to performing new music, she maintains a long-standing collaboration with British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, who has written numerous solo works for Ivana, as well as the piano concerto Between the Skies, the River and the Hills, which was premiered by her. She is also a leading advocate for the music of Dora Pejačević, whose works anchor her recital programmes for the coming seasons.

 

Ivana’s recordings have received international recognition. Her debut album In the Mists won the BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year award, while her recording of Grieg Piano Works was Gramophone Editor’s Choice and named Recording of the Year by the Grieg Society. Her recent release Throwback to Dance on Signum Classics received 5-star reviews and was showcased in dedicated radio programmes on Austria’s ORF and Switzerland’s SRF2. Ivana’s performances have also graced both the small and silver screen: she is featured playing Chopin and Beethoven in BBC2’s adaptation of The Line of Beauty, and Bach in Anthony Minghella’s film Breaking and Entering, recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

 

A dedicated chamber musician, Ivana plays in a two-piano duo with Tim Horton and has also partnered colleagues including Maxim Vengerov, Matthew Barley and Thomas Gould at festivals such as Dartington and Presteigne in the UK and Davos in Switzerland. Ivana has taken part in the IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music sessions and she is an alumna of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and Live Music Now. Ivana studied at the University of Cambridge and at the Royal College of Music. Her teachers include Niel Immelman, Peter Bithell and James Gibb. She advanced her artistic practice through specialised work with Stephen Kovacevich, Leif Ove Andsnes, Menahem Pressler and Dmitri Bashkirov.

Ivana is indebted to the support of many trusts, including the hibou-Stiftung, The Frankopan Fund (Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts), Help Musicians, The Solti Foundation, The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, The Carne Trust and The RVW Trust. Ivana is proud to be an ambassador for the charity Music Action International.

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Ivana’s sound world moves between 'sunshine and shadow' (Independent on Sunday), with a 'finely shaded colour palette’ (Gramophone) and a ‘velvety touch’ (Classical Music Magazine), 'instinctively attuned to the moods and shades of the music’ (The Telegraph), brought together by a 'keen intelligence as well as a formidable technique' (The Times), and a ‘poetry and refinement rarely encountered these days’ (International Record Review).