One of the most exceptional female artists of the 19th century celebrates her 200th birthday in 2019. The acknowledged Clara Schumann expert Ragna Schirmer has devoted a special act of homage to her artistic predecessor, taking two original concert programmes selected from Clara’s decades of concert performance and recording them to provide insight into the life and work of this very special woman. On a tour of England, she played a solo piano recital (an unusual practice at that time) featuring all the works that meant most to her: her husband’s “Scenes from Childhood” and works by Beethoven, Scarlatti, Chopin, Brahms and Mendelssohn, a programme that delighted her audience. She was announced as “Madame Schumann”.

Ragna Schirmer has long been recognized for her intimate engagement with the life of Clara Schumann. In April 2019, she will receive the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau. “I have all her diaries at home, I have all her letters at home, I have all the biographies ever written, her children’s reminiscences ... I find it incredibly exciting to be involved with this life and I regard her as an essential role model.”