Charlotte Steppes
Born in:
Zwenkau
Current centre of life:
Leipzig/Markkleeberg
Second, third or even fourth instrument:
For a few years it was the violin, but that was a long time ago… so it’s really just the voice, I love singing!
My career aspiration as a child:
I was planning to become a doctor and open a beautiful practice. Playing the piano was to be my beloved “hobby” on the side… very sensible….
This was the profession my parents envisioned for me:
None at all. At least you never formulated any expectation or hope towards me.
Works or concert experiences that shaped me:
“Works” – so also literature? There really is a lot, for example notes by Gulda or Siddhartha by Hesse… and “Zur Psychologie der Klaviertechnik” by Willy Bardas, I learned a lot there.
Work with the greatest music-making pleasure (and why?):
It’s very difficult to say, because it depends on the mood and the situation. Of course, one is inclined to think first of chamber music or piano concertos. But then Mozart’s, Schumann’s, Janáček’s (…) solo works come to mind – I can’t answer that.
I would like a work for my instrument by this composer (and why?):
Mahler! His music is absolutely supernatural for me. There is literature with piano, but what about a piano concerto? However, I also think: we pianists don’t have to “impose” Mahler on ourselves as well!
I would get up in the middle of the night for that:
Basically, really reluctant… but: to watch the snow fall peacefully on a winter night; once I did it to hike up a mountain and see the sunrise at Mont Blanc; of course when someone close to me needs something; and the “standard”: for some crazy and way too last-minute concert request…
Special / curious own concert experience:
Piano recitals are always something very special for me. For a whole concert, there is only the piano, the room, the audience and yourself. That can be incredibly intense, serious and exhilarating.
And “curious”: in a children’s concert, the children laughed so loudly that we, the ensemble, couldn’t hear a single note – at the most difficult part.
My most valuable tip for the next generation of musicians:
It’s difficult not to come across as precocious now… But of course I make my own observations with friends and fellow students… Therefore: If the feeling of following a duty becomes greater than the enjoyment and a feeling of gratitude, then do it “only” as a hobby.
That's what I wish for the future of the classical music scene:
An audience whose ears are more open and “trained” for new and contemporary music. And even more innovative, unusual concert formats that reduce the distance between artists and listeners.
My next project:
A benefit concert to mark the beginning of a series and address a very topical issue across the arts. Unfortunately, we can’t be more specific, as the planning is just beginning…
That's what I associate with Leipzig as a city of music:
My beloved hometown, a place to which I owe a lot and to which one always likes to come back.