Edna Stern (Piano)

Born: March 6, 1977 - Brusells, Belgium

The Belgian-born Israeli pianist, Edna Stern, began her musical education at the age of 6, studying first in Europe and subsequently in Israel with Viktor Derevianko of the Rubin Academy of Tel Aviv. She then returned to Europe to study at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth. Having regularly worked with Martha Argerich in Brussels, in 1996 she settled in Basel, perfecting herself during four years with Krystian Zimerman and later following master-classes in Lake Como at the reputed International Piano Foundation with Alicia de Larrocha, Dmitri Bashkirov, Andreas Staier, and above all Leon Fleisher, whom she followed to the Peabody institute in Baltimore for a year. Among her awards are: the Antwerp's Lyons Club; the International Competition Senigallia in 2000; and the Juventus Award in 2001. In 2003, Edna Stern settled in Paris where she discovered the fortepiano, an instrument which has transformed her approach to music.

Intellectual curiosity, a questing spirit and an uncompromising rigorousness in the service of music are the three major aspects of the personality of Edna Stern and of her conception of musical interpretation. Her repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel to Luciano Berio and contemporary composers, playing on period instruments as on modern ones. She has been invited to play recitals and chamber music at the Festivals la Roque d'Anthéron, Colmar, MDR, Ludiwigsburg Festsspiele, at the "Moments Musicaux" of Châtelet or at the Palais des Beaux-Arts of Brussels. She has also appeared, both with an orchestra and in solo recitals, at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and at the Tonhalle of Zürich. She has also played chamber music with the quartets Ebène and Lotus, The Oxalys ensemble, as well as with Alban Gerhardt, Magali Mosnier, Alexandre Tharaud and the violinist Amandine Beyer.

Season 2005-2006 has seen the growing reputation of Edna Stern who was invited to play her début concerts in such prestigious halls and festivals throughout Europe as Piano Jacobin, Bach Festival at Leipzig, Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, Auditorium de Saragossa, Freiburg Philharmonie, and Radio Bremen.

Edna Stern's performances have been broadcast on the Belgian radio Musique3, SüdWest Rundfunk, Bayerische Rundfunk, DRS 2, France Musiques as well as Radio Classique Her first album, dedicated to various renderings of J.S. Bach Chaconne, was received successfullly among the public (more than 5,000 CD's sold) and in the press (Awarded a Diapason Decouverte, Arte Best CD 2005). She also recorded an album of C.P.E. Bach sonatas on pianoforte with Amandine Beyer on Baroque violin (awarded 5 Diapason). Her next CD, expected to come out as well with ZigZag Territories/Harmonia Mundi, is dedicated to the piano music of Schumann and his contemporaries.

"Her piano playing bears the mark of three great pianists who formed her and of whom she managed to create an improbable synthesis : The panache of Martha Argerich, the musicality of Leon Fleisher and the impeccable finish of Krystian Zimerman." Diapason, August 2005
"Mastery, intelligence, sensibility to sound : everything is there for us to hang at her fingertips… Excellent pianist, but above all, a musician!" Classica-Repertoire, July 2005

Source: Edna Stern Website
Contributed by Teddy Kaufman (April 2007)

Edna Stern: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Edna Stern - Piano (Official Website) [English/French]

Edna Stern - Biography (Zig-Zag Territories) [English/French]