Elfrun Gabriel        pianist
Elfrun Gabriel is one of the most renowned interpreters of romantic piano music. Althoughtoday she is focused largely upon the works of Chopin, she also recites the impressions of Debussy and de Fallas just as enthrallingly as those of Mozart, Schumann and Prokofiev. She has been attracting attention from her very first concert performances.
Her outstanding teachers include Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Amadeus Webersinke, as well as in the course ofher studies under Pavel Serebriakov in St. Petersburg and the legendary pianist Halina Czerny-Stefanska in Krakow, from the school of Paderewski.
Elfrun Gabriel was already in demand as a soloist during her studies, and following success in international competitions, in particular for concerts of Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Chopin, Lisztand Shostakovich. She passed her piano examinations with distinction. Following this she showed great commitment in dedicating a number of years to teaching tasks at the University of Music in Leipzig, until the growing number of concert obligations led to her concentrating upon her career as a soloist. However, Elfrun Gabriel continues to offer selected master classes in Germany and abroad as a committed teacher, as well as undertaking functions as a jury member in international piano competitions.
Elfrun Gabriel has performed with renowned orchestras under conductors such as Kurt Masur, Ken Ichiro Kobayashi, Herbert Kegel, Otmar Suitner. In numerous chamber concerts she has made guest performances in all European countries, Russia and Brazil. Concerts in Vienna, Paris, Moscow, Madrid, Berlin, Lisbon, Warsaw, Reykjavik have established her reputation as a perceptive interpreter with “an enchanting range of tones“ and an ”entrancing tonal culture“, as the critics frequently reiterate.
In chamber music she has been most active in the piano quartet, including collaboration with the Vogler Quartett and the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra.
Numerous record and CD recordings, broadcasting and television appearances bear witnessto “passionate, almost weightless playing, borne by a subtle perceptiveness, a rarely heard interpretation“.