Meet Sanja Alexandra Stefanovic | Pianist & Piano Professor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sanja Alexandra Stefanovic and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sanja Alexandra, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Since my childhood I was told I am imaginative and a good story teller. I am voracious reader, I love to dive into the fantasy world. And making music gives me the platform for it. Daily I have ideas just coming up to my mind, and that is how I designed and organised chamber music festival and piano competition. I also think teaching piano is highly creative career! The interraction with my students at any stage of their lives is in many ways fullfillment. Being pianist gave me the luxury to excell both artistic and creative career. 

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Since my childhood i was too independant, but quite a dreamer. When i grew up i realized that i have a vision and that vision was to connect people all of kinds through classical music. I am a concert pianist, i gave concerts for over three decades,but i am mostly proud of myself organizing venues that will connect at the specific given time people through music, means playing together. That is quite challenging as one has to raise funds for it but when i have a vision i am quite capable of things. In Germany i organized piano competition and chambermusic festival, both were very good accepted in the region. I went to China to develop Music Department and there i established a model of concert series where a teacher would share the stage with their students, being it solo or in ensembles, so nowdays all my students who became wonderful piano teachers use the model and that makes me very proud!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I went to Scottsdale to visit my family and maybe to take a look at the amazing enviroment, which i remember dearly. I love Arizona, just to drive through the desert is most wonderful thing for me! Phoenix is a modern city and this time i did not have time for night-outs but i loved walking through Scottsdale, the pitoresque and historical sights, dreaming of maybe trying to put a music festival with classical ethnomusic – being from Europe we use word Ethno a lot, it gives us a chance to go back to our roots and incorporate our herritage into music-to incorporate such an amazing rich cultural herritage into classical music form, to play and perform on original instruments and to connect to dances. So i would take my friends probably to all Museums and Galleries where we can enjoy this kind of herritage, and also to roof top bars -for what is so breathtaking as the sunset in the desert?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My father comes to my mind. We used to have radio with the LP player placed on the top of it, he would listen to BBCclassical music broadcasting every day. I would sit on the floor and stare at the radio, listening. When I was practicing my father would listen to me, sometimes he would enter the room to tell me my Bach was too nervous or my Beethoven too loud. So he became very important in my daily piano practicing routine! There is Australian/British novelist P. L. Travers, probably not too many people know she is the author of Mary Poppins books. When I was 10 years old, I recieved her first Mary Poppins book for my very good notes in the school. You can imagine how I became unseparated from this book! I took it with me when I left to study piano in Odessa (Ukraine). I also took it when my husband and I came to Germany! That book shaped my whole life, helped me in a way only a book could.
My piano teacher in Odessa (Ukraine), Anatoli Povzoun. I wasn`t always working hard, he would never judge me and he never give up on me. he had a tender charachter, without him I would not be having my career today.

Website: www.sanja-stefanovic.net

Instagram: pianist_sanja_stefanovic

Youtube: Sanja Alexandra Stefanovic Pianist

Image Credits
https://rccouto.com/ Chinese photos : I am the owner of the author rights