Eliška Hartmann began learning the piano with her parents Julia and Béla Hartmann aged 4. She progressed quickly, picking up awards at local festivals in Surrey and Sussex and was awarded a music scholarship to her school St Edmund’s Hindhead where she has also received numerous prizes for most promising young musician, best young musician, and young musician of the month.
In July 2025 Eliška aged 13 gained her ABRSM Grade 8 Performance with 147/150 and also won a scholarship from the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust to attend Junior Guildhall from September 2025, where her teacher is Katarzyna Borowiak. During her first year she performed in several class concerts and external concerts and was selected for to play in the gala concert of the Austrian Master Classes in Zell, Austria.
Eliška is happiest playing Chopin and Rachmaninov but is also getting a taste for Bach with the 5th Partita. She has played works by contemporary composers including George Benjamin, and has also played many pieces by her father Béla Hartmann, who wrote his Big Pieces for Small Hands for her when her span was still short of an octave. She also enjoys accompanying her best friend Imogen in songs, whether classical or modern.
To hear more about what inspires Eliška, here are some of her favourite things about playing the piano, in her own words:
“I love big, chordy pieces and octaves. I love it when a loud, dramatic piece ends quietly, and I like having quiet, lyrical slow parts in big, loud pieces.
“I love playing concerts and the feeling afterwards — if I’ve played well! I’ve always loved doing festivals too.
“I don’t like Hanon, but I like it when my fingers get really tired because it makes me think my fingers are getting stronger!
“I like playing Bach because it is satisfying. I also love playing old pieces through — or what I can remember of them — in my spare time.
“When I go to my residential piano course in Austria, I’m always very excited by the piano and practise lots during the course and afterwards.
“Most of all, I love being with and talking to people who have the same interest in the piano as me.”
Congratulations, Eliška!
