Elina Akselrud

I play and teach all kinds of classical music - from Baroque to Contemporary.  I think it is very important to understand how unique and complete each individual style is - therefore, I don't really have a favorite one, since they are all incredible.  I am an open-minded and easy going person, always willing to collaborate with my students' needs and ideas when it gets to piano playing.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions about lessons - I will be more than happy to reply!  Looking forward to hearing from you soon and please check out my bio below:

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Ukrainian-American pianist Elina Akselrud is the founder and artistic director of a multidisciplinary organization “Intertwining Arts“, as well as the lead artist of all its crossover projects.

The main focus of her work has been expanding the concept of a piano solo recital by collaborating with artists from other genres and simultaneously blending music with theater, photography/video projection, live painting projection, dance, lighting art, and 3D projection on stage. Each project is an artistic research embodying either a historical, philosophical, or a sociological message.  Elina and her Intertwining Arts Team created and premiered “Chopin: A Letter through the Parisian Years” (2016-2018), “The Scriabin Sonatas Reimagined, Part 1” (2018-2019), “Transience: Painting after Scriabin and Vine” (2019-2020), “Messiaen. A Birdsoul” (2020-2021),, “Vers le Mystère” (2022-2023), and “The Scriabin Sonatas Reimagined, Part 2” (2023-2024) with performances in France, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, and Austria including cinematic version releases of these works. The pianist also actively performs and records themed chamber music projects, including premieres of commissioned pieces.

Elina made her debut with an orchestra at the age of eight with Bortnyansky Concerto in D Major, while studying at Kyiv Special Music School with Irina Lipatova and Irina Barinova.  She is a prize winner of international piano competitions, such as Chopin on Thousand Islands (USA, 2010, 1st Prize), Chopin in Hartford (USA, 2012 1st Prize), Midwest (USA, 2014, 2nd Prize), Chopin in Canberra (Australia, 2014, 3rd Prize), and others. Elina has performed in numerous countries in Europe, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. She appeared with orchestras, such as the Ukrainian National Orchestra (Haydn D Major), Ithaca Orchestra (Schumann), the Kaufman Center Orchestra (Beethoven No.2), NEC Symphony (Chopin No.1), and Lucerne Symphony (Beethoven No.3), among others.

Elina Akselrud received her education at Mannes School of Music in New York City, USA, with Irina Morozova (Bachelor of Music’12), New England Conservatory in Boston, USA, with Alexander Korsantia (Master of Music’14), Hochschule Luzern – Musik in Lucerne, Switzerland, with Konstantin Lifschitz (Master of Arts in Music, Major Solo Performance’18), and Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, Italy, with Eliso Virsaladze (Post-Graduate’18).

Elina Akselrud is currently working on her Doctoral Degree in Artistic Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria, where her project “Artistic Interpretation in a Crossdisciplinary Context – Late Piano Œuvre of Alexander Scriabin” has been supervised by Markus Schirmer and Deniz Peters, and where she holds a position of a research assistant. She has performed at the Scriabin Sonatas Marathons at the LacMus (Como) and Busoni (Bolzano) Festivals in Italy in 2022, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the composer, as wel as successfully presented her project at the Doctoral Forum ARTikulationen 2022 (Graz, Austria, Best Practice Award), Orpheus Doctoral Conference 2022 (Ghent, Belgium), and VIII Art or Research Conference  2023 (Espoo, Finland).