Anna Shelest

Hailed by The New York Times as a pianist of “a fiery sensibility and warm touch,” Anna Shelest is an international award-winning pianist who has thrilled audiences throughout the world.

Champion of esoteric repertoire, Anna is collaborating with the legendary conductor Neeme Järvi on a project of recording the complete works for piano and orchestra by Anton Rubinstein. The first release in the series featuring Rubinstein’s Concerto No. 4 and Caprice Russe recorded live at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater in New York City was released in 2018 to great critical acclaim and praised by Gramophone Magazine for “…power and agility… effortless effect… nuanced and incisive all around.” The following releases featuring Piano Concertos No. 3 & 5 and Concertos 1 & 2 with Pièces caractéristiques, Op.50, both with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra were released in 2019 and 2023 respectively. Her solo release Donna Voce is the first in a series of recordings surveying music by women composers from the last three centuries.

Together with her husband Dmitri Shelest, Anna recorded Ukrainian Rhapsody, which explores works for solo and four hands piano by the composers of their homeland. A number of radio stations across the US featured Ukrainian Rhapsodyas their Album of the Week.

An “effective collaborator” (The New York Times), Anna made her orchestral debut at the age of twelve with the Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra, playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Since then, she has appeared with numerous world-class orchestras including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist she has appeared at Alice Tully Hall and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in New York City, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, and Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

Born in Ukraine, Anna received her early music education at Kharkiv Special Music School. Since graduating from The Juilliard School with a master’s degree in the class of Jerome Lowenthal, Anna makes her home in New York City with her husband and two sons.