ACCLAIMED pianist Anna Shelest has chosen to make her UK debut in Stratford.
The award-winning Ukranian musician has performed around the world on some of the world’s greatest stages – from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory – but it will be her first appearance in the UK when she joins Orchestra of the Swan to perform Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia at Stratford ArtsHouse on Tuesday December 9.
Hailed by The New York Times as a pianist of “a fiery sensibility and warm touch”,she began playing piano aged six.
At the age of 11 she performed at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris as the youngest prize winner of the Milosz Magin International Piano Competition.
She made her orchestral debut at the age of 12 with the Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra, playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Since then she has been a soloist with some of the world’s most renown orchestras such as Montreal Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Her repertoire ranges from the Baroque to current contemporary composers.
Her recorded catalogue includes works by Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky.
She has won a string of prizes and awards in numerous international piano competitions from the Louisiana International Piano Competition to the Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings.
She currently lives in New York, and it was at The Juilliard School in the city from where she received her Masters Degree.
David Curtis, Orchestra of the Swan’s Artistic Director, said: “We are delighted that Anna has chosen Orchestra of the Swan to make her UK debut. She is an extremely talented pianist and I am sure she will impress audiences with her outstanding musical abilities.”
Visit www.stratfordartshouse.co.uk for tickets priced from £9.50. The concert starts at 7.30pm.
