Photo credit: Susie Ahlburg

Ivana recently made her sell-out Wigmore Hall debut, which was greeted with critical acclaim:

‘She stamped her character on the evening from the off…There’s a colloquial ease to Gavrić’s way with Eastern European melodies – she has the musical equivalent to the gift of the gab..’ (The Arts Desk, July 2010)

The British pianist has performed around the country including at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Linbury Studio Theatre (Royal Opera House), Windsor Castle (in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales), and St Martin-in-the-Fields. She has also given recitals in The Netherlands, France, Denmark, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and Japan, and has performed concertos with orchestras in London, Cambridge and Barcelona.

Born into a musical family in Sarajevo, Ivana was initially taught by her mother. Following her move to the UK, Ivana joined the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Junior Department where she was awarded the Keyboard Prize. She went on to read Music at Cambridge University as an Instrumental Award holder, studying with James Gibb. Ivana completed her Masters in Advanced Performance with Distinction at the Royal College of Music in 2005, where she studied with Niel Immelman and won a prestigious Frankopan Fund Scholarship (Sainsbury’s Family Charitable Trusts). Additionally, Ivana has had the opportunity to study with esteemed musicians such as Menahem Pressler, Dmitry Bashkirov, Boris Berman, Stephen Kovacevich, Pascal Devoyon, Roger Vignoles and for the last two years she has been working with Peter Bithell.

Ivana performed with the renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov on a BBC Radio 4 broadcast as part of Live Music Now in 2007. Her performances of Chopin and Beethoven feature in BBC2’s adaptation of The Line of Beauty. Additionally, she was invited by the late Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella to perform Bach on the soundtrack of his film Breaking and Entering, recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

A dedicated chamber musician, Ivana has partnered colleagues on the concert platform at festivals in the UK, Ireland, France and Spain. She has been invited to take part in the IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Sessions in September and she is also an alumna of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and the outreach scheme Live Music Now (set up by the late Lord Menuhin), for which she now mentors.

Ivana has been invited to take up a residency at the Banff Music Centre, Canada, in November, where she will focus on the solo and chamber works of Janáček. This will be followed by a Janáček festival which she will curate at The Forge early in February next year.

Ivana’s debut disc In the mists will be released in September on Champs Hill Records.

‘Gavrić has a great career ahead of her, of that there is no doubt
The Arts Desk, July 2010

‘Wonderful playing’
Boris Berman, pianist

‘The programme presented by Ivana Gavric showed the range of this gifted artist admirably…excellently played…a reading of no little stature.’
Musical Opinion