The pianist Elżbieta Sternlicht began her studies at the State Music Academy in Warsaw with Zbigniew Drzewiecki and continued them in Paris with Vlado Perlemuter and Suzanne Roche (piano), as well as with Jacqueline Dussol (chamber music) and Magda Tagliaferro (interpretation).
After several years of artistic activities in Paris, Elżbieta Sternlicht moved to Berlin (1977), where she has been a freelance musician and lecturer at the Universität der Künste Berlin (1980-2022). From 1990 to 2021, she was faculty advisor for the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s student scholarship programme.
She gave concerts, held master courses and workshops and did radio recordings all around Europe, as well as in North and South America and Asia.
She performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras, and played numerous solo piano recitals as well as chamber music concerts.
Elżbieta Sternlicht appeared regularly at festivals in Germany, Italy, Poland, Brazil, and France, and played at major venues including Philharmonie Berlin, Carnegie Hall in New York, Konzerthaus Berlin, Warsaw Filharmonia, A. Rubinstein Filharmonia Łodź, Teatro José de Alencar in Fortaleza and Teatro Da Paz in Belém (Brazil), Salle Cortot in Paris, and Philharmonia Lviv (Ukraine).
Although she is grounded in the standard classical repertoire, Elżbieta Sternlicht’s interest has expanded increasingly to include outstanding 20th-century works for piano. Numerous premiere performances of piano works dedicated to her by international composers have significantly widened her repertoire.
Her repertoire includes major cycles of works by Bach, Chopin, Scriabin, Schoenberg, Debussy, Ravel, Janacek, Mussorgsky, Messiaen, Shostakovich, Berio, Stockhausen and Ligeti. Special programmes have focused on »Degenerate Music«, serial music, and contemporary non-European music (from Israel, Brazil, Argentina and Taiwan). Another focus is on works by women composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Elżbieta Sternlicht recorded three CDs with works by Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn): »Lyrical Pieces for Piano« (Thorofon), »Piano Compositions from the Italian Period« (Ars Musici) and, on the occasion of Fanny Hensel’s 200th birthday, »Piano Works« (Acte Préalable). Her world premiere recording of the complete works for piano by Josef Koffler has been available on two CDs since 2005 (Acte Préalable). In June 2018, the label hänssler CLASSIC released two CDs with Elżbieta Sternlicht’s world premiere recording of the complete piano works of Arnold Mendelssohn.
The recordings of Fanny Hensel »Lyrische Stücke für Klavier«, 1991, of Josef Koffler »Complete Works for Piano«, Vol. 1 & 2, and of Arnold Mendelssohn »Complete PIano Works« have been added to the inventory of the British Library in London/GB. The CD of Fanny Hensel »Lyrische Stücke für Klavier« has been added also to the inventory of the Library of Congress in Washington/USA.