SIBERIA'S FORGOTTEN PIANOS
Due to British travel restrictions in connection with the COVID-19 situation, this event can only take place as a ZOOM Live talk.
Sophy Roberts
SIBERIA'S FORGOTTEN PIANOS
Siberia, that is relentless cold and enormous vastness. But Siberia, this prison without a roof, is also astonishingly beautiful. In her extravagant search for clues, British photographer Sophy Roberts shows just how important a role pianos play here as a symbol of European culture. She not only manages to track down numerous once famous instruments between the Urals and Sakhalin Island, but also to reconstruct their stories: from the piano mania of the Tsarist era to the passion of the Aeroflot pilot, from the Soviet „Red October“ manufactory to the young Mongolian pianist Odgorel, who plays Bach in her yurt. Sophy Roberts‘ explorations take us deep into the heart of history and tell us no less about the present.
Sophy Roberts studied at Oxford and Columbia University, New York, and has worked for Condé Nast Traveller, The Economist and Financial Times Weekend. She lives in West Dorset (UK).
Moderation
Tessa Szyszkowitz, author, journalist for PROFIL, Falter and Cicero, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
The German translation of Sophy Roberts' book The Lost Pianos of Siberia (Sibiriens vergessene Klaviere) will be published by Zsolnay Verlag on 21 September 2020 (400 pages, ISBN 9783552072053)