- Biography
- Repertoire
- Discography
- "Donna Voce"
- Reviews
- Itinerary
- Shelest Piano Duo
- Media
Hailed by The New York Times as a pianist of “a fiery sensibility and warm touch,” ANNA SHELEST is an international award-winning artist who has thrilled audiences throughout the world.
A champion of esoteric repertoire, Anna has, since 2017, been collaborating with the legendary conductor Neeme Järvi to record rare works for piano and orchestra. Their complete set of Anton Rubinstein’s piano concerti has been released to great acclaim, praised by the American Record Guide as “Easily the top choices now for these two concertos [#1 & #2]” and Gramophone for “power and agility, effortless effect, nuanced and incisive all round.” [#4 and Caprice Russe]. This collaboration continued in the fall of 2024, when she returned to Tallinn for the performance and recording of two great Eastern European works - Artur Lemba’s Piano Concerto #2 and Sergei Bortkiewicz’s Concerto #1.
The 2019 release of “Donna Voce,” a survey of music by women composers from the last three centuries, has led to Anna’s ongoing musical project that includes live performances, lectures and videos, as well as sequel albums - “Donna Voce II” (2014), featuring Fanny Mendelssohn’s monumental piano cycle Das Jahr (“The Year”) and “Donna Voce III: Concerti” (2025) with Neeme Järvi conducting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Cécile Chaminade’s Concertstück.
Anna regularly performs with her husband Dmitri as the Shelest Piano Duo, and have 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.”
Anna made her orchestral debut at the age of twelve with the Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra and has, subsequently, appeared as soloist with many distinguished orchestras, among them the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. In recital and concerto performances, she has been heard in New York City’s Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Alice Tully Hall, Washington, DC’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes and Austria’s Wiener Konzerthaus.
A native of Ukraine, Anna received her early music education at the Kharkiv Special Music School. She received her Masters Degree from The Juilliard School in New York City, where she studied with Jerome Lowenthal.
Anna Shelest makes her home in New York City with her husband and two sons.
BACH, J.S.
Concerto #1 in d, BWV 1052
BEETHOVEN
Concerto #4 in G, Op. 58
Fantasia in c, Op. 80 ("Choral Fantasy")
BORTKIEWICZ, Sergei
Concerto #1 in B-flat, Op. 16 (1912)
CHAMINADE
Concertstück, Op. 40 (1888)
GERSHWIN
Concerto in F
Rhapsody in Blue
GRIEG
Concerto in a, Op, 16
LEMBA, Artur
Concerto #2 in e, Op. 17
LISZT
Concerto #1 in E-flat
Totentanz
MOZART
Concerto #11 in F, K. 413
Concerto #21 in C, K. 467
Concerto #23 in A, K. 488
Concerto #24 in c, K. 491
POULENC
Concerto in c-sharp (1949)
Concerto for 2 Pianos
PROKOFIEV
Concerto #1 in D-flat, Op. 10
Concerto #2 in g, Op. 16
RACHMANINOFF
Concerto #1 in f-sharp, Op. 1 (rev. 1917)
Concerto #2 in c, Op. 18
Concerto #3 in d, Op. 30
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini , Op. 43
RUBINSTEIN
Caprice Russe, Op. 102
Concerto #1 in e, Op. 25
Concerto #2 in F, Op. 35
Concerto #3 in G, Op. 45
Concerto #4 in d, Op. 70
Concerto #5 in E-flat, Op. 94
SAINT-SAËNS
Concerto #2 in g, Op. 22
SCHUMANN, Clara
Concerto in a, Op. 7
SCHUMANN, Robert
Concerto in a, Op. 54
SHOSTAKOVICH
Concerto #1 in c, Op. 35
Concerto #2 in F, Op. 102
STRAUSS
Burleske in d
TCHAIKOVSKY
Concerto #1 in b-flat, Op. 23
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ANTON RUBINSTEIN Piano Concerto #1 in e, Op. 25 Music & Arts: MACD 1308 |
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“DONNA VOCE” Fanny Mendelssohn: Sonata in g Sorel Classics: SC CD 015 |
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“DONNA VOCE” Volume 2: Women of Legend Fanny Mendelssohn: Das Jahr Music & Arts: MACD 1309 |
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ANTON RUBINSTEIN Piano Concerto #3 in G, Op. 45 Sorel Classics: SC CD 014 |
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ANTON RUBINSTEIN Piano Concerto #4 in d, Op. 70 Sorel Classics: SC CD 013 |
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PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto #1 in D-flat, Op. 10 Sorel Classics: SC CD 006 |
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“SPIRIT & ROMANCE” Bach/Busoni: Chaconne Sorel Classics: SC CD 001 |
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“PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION” Glinka/Balakirev: The Lark Sorel Classics: SC CD 007 |
Donna Voce ( Woman’s voice) is a virtuosic piano program that puts listeners up close and personal with female composers of the last three centuries. By sharing their compelling life stories and wide ranging oeuvre, Anna Shelest makes the case for the power of this music to capture hearts and minds of today’s listeners.
Recital Presentation:
https://www.annashelest.com/donna-voce-project
Anna Shelest brought a fiery sensibility and warm touch to the piano solo of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, whose theme evokes the famous melody of his Ninth Symphony. Soloist and orchestra collaborated effectively for an energetic rendition that highlighted the improvisatory character of the work.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
RUBINSTEIN Piano Concerto No. 4
The conductor launches into the first-movement introduction at a faster than usual clip, while Shelest sails through her introductory cadenza with bracing confidence and not a single splinter or vagary in those massive chords. Her forward-moving phrasing and flexibility are exactly what this burly music demands. The pianist’s tone opens up in the cadenza, where even a home listener gets a sense of how her melodic projection extends out towards the venue’s proverbial peanut gallery. If anything, the tumultuous finale showcases Shelest’s power and agility operating at more inspired capacity, tossing out runs, leaps and octave surges to effortless effect.
GRAMOPHONE
Record of the Year: Pianist Anna Shelest records Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Das Jahr and Bonis’ Femmes de Légende [headline]
On August 2nd, 2024, the Music and Arts Record Label released a CD that features the fantastic playing of the renowned Ukranian-American pianist Anna Shelest. Called Donna Voce Volume 2, this CD features music written by Women composers, specifically Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Mélanie Bonis and Olena Ilnytska. Presentation is everything, and Shelest performs with a perfect sense of romantic style for the Mendelssohn-Hensel and impressionist beauty and buoyancy for the Bonis. This is music that has been clearly thought about, and it shows in Shelest’s exquisite phrasing, touch and pianistic colours. Melodic lines are clear and full of wonderful characters that invite the listener into the musical gallery of Mendelssohn-Hensel’s year. The seven women that are depicted in Bonis’ cycle are perfectly depicted by Shelest. She also has technique to burn, and it comes in handy while navigating the pitfalls found in both cycles. This is a benchmark recording that is sure to help establish these two cycles in the rightful place as popular piano recital literature.
WINNIPEG’S CLASSIC 107
Anna Shelest delivers a powerhouse performance in the new release, Anton Rubinstein Piano Concerto No. 4. The Rubinstein Concerto No. 4 is gargantuan and Shelest is simply brilliant in her navigation of this iconic 19th-century Russian’s work. She captures the rich beauty of all Rubinstein’s melodies, both broad orchestral statements and intimate piano utterances. Conductor Neeme Järvi brings his extraordinary skill to the podium to direct the energies released by the music. The CD also includes Rubinstein’s Caprice Russe whose strong national folk content stands in contrast to the more European flavour of the concerto. It’s a thrilling live recording.
THE WHOLE NOTE MAGAZINE
It was a great pleasure to present Anna Shelest to my Topeka Symphony audience. We performed Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto and Cécile Chaminade's Concertstück, two neglected works by women that make a terrific programming combination. Anna plays beautifully, and it was a wonderful and easy collaboration. One of my violinists said, ‘I've never heard an artist make a piano sparkle like Anna does!’ The audience loved both pieces, and many people asked why they've never heard them before.
KYLE WILEY PICKETT, MUSIC DIRECTOR
TOPEKA SYMPHONY
Our musicians and patrons alike were effusive in their praise of Anna Shelest’s dazzling technique and her ability to generate a remarkably rich, deep and colorful sound from our piano, to say nothing of her engaging personality. Both orchestra and audience members often voice their desire to have an artist return, but with Anna it has bordered on a demand. We will welcome her back to the stage of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra - and very soon! Thank you for introducing me to this amazing talent.
PETER STAFFORD WILSON, MUSIC DIRECTOR
SPRINGFIELD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Ohio)
A new piano duo on the scene is the Ukrainian-born, and now New York-based couple, Anna and Dmitri Shelest. Shelest Piano Duo have released their first recording, TUTTI, with substantial standard repertoire items. Among the disc’s highlights are Liszt’s own arrangement of his Les Préludes played with consistent brilliance and sensitivity through to its magnificent conclusion. Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony Allegro is an impressive display of melody and countermelody beautifully balanced and phrased. [In Ravel’s La Valse], the Shelests capture the chaos and complexity familiar in the orchestral version and bring it to a stunning finish.”
THE WHOLE NOTE MAGAZINE
Anna Shelest has not only won me over with her astoundingly dexterous and emotive pianism, but has truly proved herself a whiz at programming her albums. Even if her newest CD, Donna Voce, was not a collection of piano solos by female composers who deserve as much attention as their male contemporaries, I would have been impressed. Certainly Fanny Mendelssohn (represented by a firecracker rendition of her Sonata in G Minor) and Clara Schumann (a buttery, melodiousScherzo No. 2 in C Minor) have made the rounds these days, but that has more to do with their relationships to Felix and Robert. While Shelest’s powerful accounts of these pieces is worth the price of admission, the other represented women [Cécile Chaminade, Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger, Chia-Yu Hsu] are eye-openers.
STAGE AND CINEMA
This is the third volume of the Donna Voce series. Anna Shelest is no mean pianist. I have previously enjoyed her disc of duets with Dmitri Shelest (Tutti, reviewed in Fanfare 39:5); a solo disc, Spirit & Romance (39:5); a disc of Russian piano music, including Mussorgsky’s Pictures (40:1), and another disc of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (also 40:1); Ukrainian Rhapsody (Fanfare 41:6); and Anton Rubinstein’s Concerto No. 4 (42:2). Her stalwart advocacy of the two composers on this disc reminds us of their stature.
Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto deserves to be one of a triumvirate of A-Minor Concertos: The Robert Schumann and Grieg have been joined at the hip, happily married (most of the time) for far too long. Anna Shelest makes a persuasive case for Clara’s placement at the top of the tree, and she is more than ably supported by the experienced Neeme Järvi and the National Symphony Orchestra of his home country of Estonia. Järvi is a concerto collaborator par excellence: always there exactly, calibrating textures, and on a telepathic congruence when it comes to rubato. It is Shelest’s way with the music that carries this performance, however: ever-sensitive and ever-intelligent. A word is due, too, for the solo cellist, and all credit goes to Music & Arts for identifying the player as Indrek Leivategja. The solo is expressive; Clara juxtaposes it with a dance-like rhythm to the finale that is infectious. Most impressive is Shelest’s rhetorical way. Declamatory passages carry weight, but also tell a story. Some of the more Chopinesque figuration is dispatched with aplomb by Shelest, while conversely Järvi paints the darker clouds of the score with ease. The finale buzzes with life, its rhythms energizing and bracing, while the woodwind contributions are truly lovely—quite backward in the sound picture, but there.
The other work with orchestra here is Cécile Chaminade’s remarkable Concertstück in C♯ Minor, op. 40, which starts off for all the world like Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer before relocating itself in more Gallic waters. It is easy to hear Debussy here, too, but most of all one has a concerto of vast invention. Anna Shelest delivers the élan; the performance is frothy and determined at the same time. It is a riot, too.
This remains a fantastically programmed disc, performed with real care and, most importantly, understanding. Sit back and enjoy 76 minutes of loveliness from Anna Shelest and friends.
Fanfare
| 9/16/2024 (7pm) | KIMBALL FARMS LIFECARE RETIREMENT COMMUNITY (Lenox, MA) Bernstein/Harmon: Candide (overture) |
| 9/26/2024 (7:30pm) 9/27/2024 (7:30pm) |
FAUST HARRISON PIANOS (NYC) Lemba: Piano Concerto #2 |
| 10/18/2024 (7pm) | ESTONIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Neeme Järvi, conductor Lemba: Piano Concerto #2 |
| 10/29/2024 (7pm) | UKRAINIAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL (NYC) Faust Harrison Pianos “Ukrainian Virtuoso: The Music of Victoria Poleva” |
| 11/9/2024 (7:30pm) | SPRINGFIELD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (OH) Peter Stafford Wilson, conductor C. Schumann: Piano Concerto |
| 11/10/2024 (1pm) | THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL ABC GALA Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (NYC) Chaminade: Arabesque (Anna Shelest, piano) |
| 2/6/2025 (7:30pm) 2/7/2025 (7:30pm |
FAUST HARRISON PIANOS (NYC) “Donna Voce 3" CD Release Recitals |
| 2/15/2025 (7:30pm) | UNDER THE BEAMS (New Harmony, IN) Murphy Auditorium Chaminade: 6 Pièces romantiques |
| 2/28/2025 (8pm) | OHIO UNIVERSITY (Athens) Robert Glidden Hall Bernstein/Harmon: Overture to Candide |
| 3/15/2025 (7:30pm) | RAPIDES SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Alexandria, LA) Joshua Zona, conductor C. Schumann: Piano Concerto |
| 3/25/2025 (5:30pm) | PIANO EVENING WITH DAVID DUBAL Grace & St. Paul’s Church (NYC) F. Mendelssohn Hensel: Das Jahr (selections) |
| 3/30/2025 (4pm) | THE CHURCH (Sag Harbor, NY) Bernstein/Harmon: Overture to Candide |
| 4/11/2025 (7pm) | FIFTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CHAMBER CHOIR Dr. Ryan Jackson, conductor Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem |
| 5/2/2025 (8pm) | FARMINGTON VALLEY CHORALE Ellen Gilson Voth, conductor with Shelest Piano Duo |
| 5/3/2025 (8pm) | FARMINGTON VALLEY CHORALE Ellen Gilson Voth, conductor with Shelest Piano Duo |
| 5/13/2025 (6:30pm) | PIANO EVENING WITH DAVID DUBAL Grace & St. Paul’s Church (NYC) F. Mendelssohn Hensel: Das Jahr (January-June) |
| 6/6/2025 (7:30pm) | ROSSMOOR MUSIC ASSOCIATION (Monroe Township, NJ) The Meeting House Bernstein/Harmon: Overture to Candide |
| 8/4/2025 (5:30pm) | NANTUCKET MUSICAL ARTS SOCIETY Nantucket Atheneum “Meet the Artists” |
| 8/5/2025 (7pm) | NANTUCKET MUSICAL ARTS SOCIETY St. Paul’s Church of Nantucket J.S. Bach/Revutsky: Fantasie in c |
| 9/28/2025 (2:30pm) | ARTS IN THE VILLAGE (Rehoboth, MA) Goff Memorial Hall with Shelest Piano Duo |
| 10/4/2025 (7pm) | LONGMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (CO) Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, Skyline High School Campus Bortkiewicz: Piano Concerto #1 |
| 10/12/2025 (3pm) | KENNETT SYMPHONY (PA) Michael Hall, conductor Grieg: Piano Concerto |
| 11/15/2025 (7:30pm) | GLACIER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHORALE (Kalispell, MT) John Zoltek, conductor C. Schumann: Piano Concerto |
| 11/23/2025 (2pm) | SOUTH WINDSOR CULTURAL ARTS (CT) Evergreen Crossings Retirement Community Theatre Bernstein/Harmon: Overture to Candide |
| 2/21/2026 (7:30pm) | AUGUSTA SYMPHONY (GA) Dirk Meyer, conductor C. Schumann: Piano Concerto |
| 3/29/2026 (3pm) | THE CEDARS CLASSICAL CONCERT SERIES (Chapel Hill, NC) The Ballroom, The Cedars of Chapel Hill with Shelest Piano Duo |
| 4/14/2026 (8pm) 4/15/2026 (7pm) POSTPONED |
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Neeme Järvi, conductor Rubinstein: Piano Concerto #1 |
| 4/16/2026 (8pm) POSTPONED |
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Neeme Järvi, conductor Rubinstein: Piano Concerto #1 |
| 4/18/2026 (8pm) POSTPONED |
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Neeme Järvi, conductor Rubinstein: Piano Concerto #1 |
| 4/19/2026 (8pm) POSTPONED |
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Neeme Järvi, conductor Rubinstein: Piano Concerto #1 |
| 5/21/2026 (7pm) | RUTHMERE (Elkart, IN) with Shelest Piano Duo |
| 6/27/2026 (7:30pm) | ADIRONDACK LAKES CENTER FOR THE ARTS (Blue Mountain Lake, NY) with Shelest Piano Duo |
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Bernstein/Harmon: Candide (overture) |
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Copland/Lerner: Variations on a Shaker Melody |
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Schubert: Sonata in a, D. 784 |
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Mozart: Fantasie in c, K. 475 |
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Fanny Mendelssohn: Sonata in g |
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Poulenc: Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra (mvt. III: Allegro molto) |
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Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (piano 4-hands, with Anna & Dmitri Shelest) |
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Arensky: Polichinelle (piano 4-hands, with Anna & Dmitri Shelest) |
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YouTube channel: “Shelest at the Piano” |