Shelest Piano Duo, Duo

Biography

Having already established themselves as solo artists, while garnering numerous prizes and awards along the way, the Shelest Piano Duo brings to the performance stage inventive programs of not only solo repertoire, but also four-hand music. The husband and wife team of Anna and Dmitri Shelest are rapidly gaining a reputation for offering performances that help to create a greater understanding of the piano in particular, and the performing arts in general. First Prize winners of Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, the Shelest Piano Duo made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2011 and have appeared at the venue annually since.

In addition to a success that has family ties, critics point to the fact that both artists are also part of the distinguished piano tradition resulting from their both growing up in Ukraine, and studying at the famous Kharkiv Special Music School, before coming to the United States to complete their education.

Described by The New York Times as a pianist of “a fiery sensibility and warm touch”, Anna Shelest began her career with a performance at UNESCO headquarters in Paris when she was only eleven years old, and an orchestral debut with Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra the following year in a performance of the Rachmaninoff First Piano Concerto. Since then, she has performed throughout the world as both a soloist and chamber musician, including appearances with the Cincinnati, Montreal, and Netherlands Symphony Orchestras, as well as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Her recent debuts included performances at Alice Tully Hall and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus in Vienna, as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Her discography includes recordings of works by Rachmaninoff, a CD with Cristian Ganicenco, principal trombonist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and a new release entitled “Spirit and Romance”.

Dmitri Shelest started studying piano at the age of six in his native Ukraine, and soon enrolled in the Special Music School for Gifted Children, succeeding at his first contest when he was 11. It was also piano that brought him to the United States, having been offered a full scholarship to Northern Kentucky University as a Bachelor’s degree candidate in Piano Performance.

While at NKU, Mr. Shelest won top prizes at the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition, the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Piano Competition, the Eastern Music Festival Concerto Competition, the World Piano Competition, and the Iowa International Piano Competition, among others. After graduating in 2005, he pursued a post-baccalaureate degree in Entrepreneurship in the same school, receiving the second degree in 2008. Since then, he has been active as a soloist, chamber musician, and a teacher.