about

Praised for her “technical mastery and beauty of sound and execution”, Russian pianist Anna Vasilyeva first drew international media attention in 2006 when performing Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, op. 12, at his 150-year commemoration concert in Cremona, Italy. That same summer in Casalmaggiore Italy, Ms. Vasilyeva presented a combined recital, in which she showcased a program of Chopin etudes op. 25. She has performed at world famous venues including recitals at Weill Hall at Carnegie hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Music Center, Victor Borge Hall at Scandinavia House, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York; as well as at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Washington, D.C., the Arts Club of Chicago, Rimsky-Korsakov Grand Concert Hall in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, and Philippos Nakas Hall at the Athens Conservatory, Greece. In July 2012, Ms. Vasilyeva was a guest solo Artist-in-Residence at the PianoPlus International Music Festival in Athens, Greece. In 2014, the American Federation of Musicians named Ms. Vasilyeva "a pianist of extraordinary ability".

Ms. Vasilyeva is an avid solo and collaborative pianist. She has worked with such internationally renowned performers as Sharon Robinson of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson trio, as well as pianists Monique Duphil, Peter Takács, and Warren Jones. Furthemore, Ms. Vasilyeva has performed in masterclasses with Kirill Gerstein, Yoshigazu Nagai, Li Min Qiang, Dmitry Rachmanov, Victor Rosenbaum, Marilyn Horne, Martin Katz, Margo Garrett; members of the Juilliard, Cavani and Emerson String Quartets. She was a guest pianist with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles at Merkin Hall concert series at Lincoln Center.

Dedicated to the performance of new music, as well as old, over the course of 4 years Anna Vasilyeva has worked closely with a French flautist, Michel Debost, and has performed chamber works by French composers Henri Dutilleux, Pierre Sancan, Jacques Ibert, André Jolivet, Philippe Gaubert, to name a few. In 2010, Ms. Vasilyeva has been a part of the The Martin Project, a concert of all Bach’s Preludes and Fugues arranged by Henry Martin; and in 2012 she premiered a Moduli piano trio work by the composer Matthew Smith.

Being a strong supporter of her community, Anna Vasilyeva enjoys performing at various venues, from retirement homes and churches, to hospitals and art clubs. She is a strong believer in education of the arts, music and humanities, and supports her beliefs by making music and performance available to everyone. Ms. Vasilyeva has been a guest performer for a number of occasions at Cleveland Clinic, Kendal at Oberlin, Manor House of Toledo, and International Club of Case Western Reserve University.

Having experience in working with singers for over 10 years, Ms. Vasilyeva has collaborated with Umberto Finazzi of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, on opera L’Egisto by Francesco Cavalli. That same season the opera was staged and performed at the Opera House of Arezzo, Italy and accepted with great acclaim. In 2012 Anna Vasilyeva was a founding member and Executive Director of the “Russian Heritage” Piano Competition, in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, Ms. Vasilyeva started taking piano lessons at the age of 5, while giving her debut performance at the age of 7 at the Sergei Rachmaninoff Children’s School for the Arts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music, where she studied with William Matygulin, Ludmila Vasilieva, and Elmira Kairova, former students of Arkady Aronov, Vladimir Nielsen, and Ekaterina Murina. Upon graduation, Ms. Vasilyeva was accepted with full scholarship to Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she continued her studies with Sedmara Zakarian-Rutstein, a student of Nadezhda Golubovskaya, a classmate and colleague of Dmitri Shostakovich. Upon her graduation in 2008, Anna has been offered a collaborative piano position at Oberlin Conservatory, which she held for a year, followed by Master’s degree from the Bowling Green State University, and an Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Ms. Vasilyeva’s teachers included Thomas Rosenkranz, Anita Pontremoli, and Elizabeth DeMio. She is the recipient of the Mildred Drews Gilliam and Anne Walworth Memorial Scholarships.

Ms. Vasilyeva is a co-founder of the Hudson Classical Music Studios in Manhattan. She is pursuing a Doctor of musical arts degree in performance at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where she also serves as a pianist for HELIX! contemporary ensemble.

www.nyphil.org/about-us/artists/anna-vasilyeva