My name is Stefania Surace and I was born in 1976. I am a pianist and composer, and I mainly write short pieces for solo piano, which could perhaps be described as “neoclassical” in style.

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Music accompanied me throughout my childhood and adolescence. However, I only began to devote myself to this art form as an adult, having first followed a completely different path.

 

At the age of 18, I left my hometown in Calabria to study Political Science at LUISS University in Rome. After graduating, I left Italy for Belgium, thanks to a scholarship from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I spent a year in Bruges at the prestigious College of Europe, where I studied politics, history, economics and law – everything related to the European Union.

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My path seemed clear: I would look for a job in Brussels, perhaps within the European institutions, a research centre or the media.

 

In reality, this was not my destiny.

 

At some point, I began dreaming about music every night. In the morning, with a crowd of notes in my head, I would return to the piano. The instrument, which I had completely abandoned at 18, gradually became the centre of my life again.

 

My classical training began to resurface, but I had forgotten many things during all those years of silence. So I started studying again, finding myself once more immersed in solfège, piano studies and conservatory programmes.

 

This was followed by the recording of three solo piano albums: Segnali dalle Nuvole, Tracce di sogno alla luce del giorno and Fatamorgana. The latter was produced in 2014 thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign.

 

In the meantime, I began performing concerts in Italy and abroad. Some of the most significant venues and events include the Mercati di Traiano in Rome (2012), a concert in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, at the invitation of the Italian Consulate (2014), the Municipal Theatre of Bruges, at the invitation of the College of Europe, and the Spoleto Piano Festival (2015), the Officine Miramare in Reggio Calabria (2016), and Villa Leopardi in Rome (2018).

 

In 2018, I also published a novel, Panni sporchi, with Dante & Descartes.

 

Another important chapter in my life is teaching piano, which I have been passionately devoted to for many years. After teaching at the Unitre in Bern, I now teach piano in Italian, French, English and German, both at the Institut Musical in Saint-Louis, Alsace, and in my studio in Basel, through the Swiss platform Instrumentor.

 

In 2026, I released the EP Moonflowers with Klangspot Recordings / Nu Classical. The four tracks on the EP – Traces of Light, Solaris, Forgetful Angel and Disparaître – have collectively reached more than 200,000 streams on Spotify.

 

Of course, I continue to compose my piano pieces, finding much inspiration in living in the countryside, in close contact with nature. Sometimes I imagine these pieces as a single work, a single story emerging from my mind.

 

I sit down at the piano and remain silent for a few minutes. Little by little, a gentle sweetness gathers around me: I have the feeling of being at home.

 

This, I tell myself, is my Heimat, the place I can always return to, the country I carry within me.