Ivana Gavrić, solo piano

Saturday 2 May 2026 at 7:30 pm

Including an informative talk on the Croatian composer Dora Pejačević

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn about the fascinating composer, Dora Pejačević!  Although she may not be readily known to many, her music is beginning to be embraced in the UK and her symphony was performed at the Proms in 2024.  Leading this project is pianist Ivana Gavrić, who shares Pejačević’s Croatian heritage and is committed to helping bring her music out of the penumbra.  Hailed for her electrifying playing and storytelling programming, she fits the bill to take on this role!   Breinton’s intimate setup will offer the perfect atmosphere for Ivana’s programme, which will explore Pejačević’s tragically short life and work alongside other pieces including Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin.  This is our second ‘Concert and Talk’ event, continuing the style from last year’s highly popular event featuring Sir William Sterndale Bennett by Hiroaki Takenouchi.

Ticket Information 

Tickets will go on sale on Sunday 29 March at 12 noon.

Ticket price: £23

• Dora Pejačević:           
  • The Rose, The Red Carnation and Lillies from Blumenleben Op.  19
  • Two Nocturnes Op. 50
  • Piano Sonata in Ab major, Op. 57 
• Cécil Chaminade:     
  • Autrefois and Norwegienne, Op. 87
• Maurice Ravel:
  • Le Tombeau de Couperin 

Ivana Gavrić has attracted international acclaim for her interpretations of a broad range of repertoire and storytelling programming, her playing described as ‘electrifying’ (BBC Music Magazine) and ‘impressive, insightful…ravishing’ (Washington Post).

Ivana is drawn to composers like Janáček, Grieg and Chopin, who each take features of their respective homelands to create a distinctive musical voice, whether from the landscape and nature or from elements of folk music and dance. A long-standing collaboration with the award-winning composer, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, has led to solo works and more recently a concerto, entitled Between the Skies, the River and the Hills, written for Ivana. Ivana is also committed to performing works by female composers of the past, particularly Dora Pejačević, with whom she shares her origins.

Equally at home with core repertoire, Ivana’s recent concerto performances include Grieg and Rachmaninov with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, and Beethoven’s Emperor with the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall. She has also performed with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, South Denmark Philharmonic and Southbank Sinfonia, and has collaborated with conductors including Rafael Payare, Nicholas Collon, Christian Kluxen, Karin Hendrickson and Ben Gernon. She especially enjoys working with chamber orchestras, and highlights to date have included performing with the Trondheim Soloists, Aurora Orchestra, Camerata Zürich and City of London Sinfonia.

Ivana has been heard on the concert platform at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zürich, KKL Lucerne and the Gilmore Piano Festival, as well as across China, in Canada and recently in Peru. She created a sensation with her debut album In the Mists, winning BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year, her playing hailed as ‘altogether of an extraordinary calibre’ (BBC Music Magazine). Her recording of Grieg: Piano Works was selected as Gramophone Editor’s Choice and the Grieg Society’s Recording of the Year, while her Chopin disc was chosen as Classic FM’s CD of the week.

A dedicated chamber musician, Ivana has recently formed a two-piano duo with Tim Horton, with programmes centred around the Shostakovich anniversary as well as Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. She 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 as well as Live Music Now. Outside the concert hall, Ivana 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.

Born into a musical family in Sarajevo and raised in the UK, Ivana studied at the University of Cambridge and at the Royal College of Music. Her teachers include Niel Immelman, Peter Bithell and James Gibb. Ivana is indebted to the support of many trusts, including the hibou Stiftung, Frankopan Fund (Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts), the MBF, The Solti Foundation, The Nicholas Boas Trust, The Richard Carne Trust and the RVW Trust. Ivana is proud to be an ambassador for the charity ‘Music Action International’. Following three years of giving masterclasses to postgraduate students at Dartington Summer Festival and School, Ivana now works as a Visiting Lecturer at the London College of Music, University of West London.

Ivana’s new album, ‘Throwback to Dance’, exploring Grieg’s influence on Ravel, was released on Signum Classics in November 2025.