"Nothing is more exciting than live performance. It's irreversible, it's now!": pianist Ivo Pogorelich's Proust questionnaire

Writers, musicians, photographers, actors, fashion designers, filmmakers... Throughout the summer, artists are taking part in this game for franceinfo Culture. Today, the famous Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelich.

Virtuoso pianist Ivo Pogorelich became a star at the age of 22 one day in 1980 when he lost to the Warsaw Chopin Competition—one of the most prestigious in the world. His dismissal from the competition provoked the fury of the great Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich, a member of the jury, who has since become one of his concert partners.

Over the years, the Croatian pianist has kept intact his aura linked to a style of playing and a sound that never leaves one indifferent: listening to a performance of Pogorelich , it is said among music lovers, is an extraordinary experience, sometimes even the rediscovery of a piece that one thought one knew, by Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Mozart, Scriabin or Mussorgsky. For several years, he has been delving deeper into the work of Beethoven, whose sonatas are on the program of his next concerts, starting with the one at the Philharmonie de Paris in November.

Franceinfo Culture: This summer, are you more into work or naps, touring or vacation? Ivo Pogorelich: I'm never on vacation, and I've been working on Beethoven's sonatas for fifty years, which I play in Paris every November. So this is the time to immerse myself in them day and night.

When on vacation, are you a mountain or beach person? North or south? Without a doubt: the sea. I spent my childhood holidays on a Croatian island, and if I had the time, I would definitely return.

Let's talk creation: are you a morning person or an evening person? An evening person!

Studio or live? Well, nothing is more exciting than live performance. It's irreversible, it's now. A moment to share with the audience, hoping to relive it next time.

What's the album you still haven't listened to? One of Caetano Veloso's latest CDs, Meu Coco . At 82, he's still a model of discipline, depth, and love.

Your best memory as a musician? My breakfast this morning. I was playing Beethoven at the same time.

Your nightmare? Missing my plane.

If you were a piece of music, what would it be? Beethoven, the last sonatas.

What musical or literary phrase has changed your life? Every bar of Beethoven.

Which characters in literature, art, or music have you hated? Imposters, those who want to shine above all else.

And those who have always accompanied you? Okay, I'll risk being annoying: Beethoven if I have to choose one, Schumann if I have to choose another, Chopin without hesitation. And finally, the soprano Montserrat Caballé, to be admired eternally for her breath and her technique.

Where is your home? At the piano.

What place inspires you? A piano, and certainly the piano of the Philharmonie de Paris chosen by a great connoisseur.

What's the issue that horrifies you? A political issue. An artist must be separate from that. An opinion is based on information, and that information may turn out to be false.

And the one you've never been asked? Honestly, I think they were all asked in the 1980s... but today, you're invited to propose one.

Ivo Pogorelich at the Philharmonie de Paris on November 9, 2025. On the program, sonatas no. 8 op. 13 (“Pathétique”), n°17 op. 31 (“The Tempest”) and n°23 op. 57 ("Appassionata") by Ludwig van Beethoven.