Anna Shelest

"The Bechstein was my first grand piano when I was growing up in Ukraine, and the memory of its beautiful sound has stayed with me ever since."

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 musician who has thrilled audiences throughout the world. A champion of esoteric repertoire, she is currently collaborating with the legendary conductor Neeme Järvi on a project of recording the complete works for piano and orchestra by Anton Rubinstein.

Anna made her orchestral debut at the age of twelve years old with the Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra, playing Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 1.” Since then, she has been a soloist with world-class orchestras such as Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, among others. 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, Mrs. Shelest received her early music education at Kharkiv Special Music School. After receiving her Bachelor of Music degree at Northern Kentucky University, she graduated from The Juilliard School with a master’s degree.

Anna regularly performs with her husband Dmitri as the Shelest Piano Duo, and has produced over 100 episodes for their YouTube channel “Shelest at the Piano.” Praised for their “stirring performances of rare repertory” (Fanfare), the duo traces its roots to music school in Kharkiv, Ukraine. At their 2018 Carnegie Hall debut, the duo’s CD release of “Ukrainian Rhapsody” brought renewed attention to the music of their homeland. Anna and Dmitri, who met as classmates in middle school, began performing together after their marriage in the United States. Their inventive programs brought them to a broad array of venues from concert stages to state functions, and in the words of Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, “realized diplomacy through music.”

"There is a remarkable sense of freedom in playing a Bechstein—the instrument responds to the slightest change in touch while never losing its clarity or beauty of tone. From the bell-like highest register to the richest bass, from the most delicate whisper to the fullest fortissimo, its extraordinary range of colors makes every musical possibility feel within reach and every moment at the piano a feast for the ears and soul!"