Latest Release

Don’t miss Anna discussing her upcoming Carnegie Hall performance with her husband Dmitri and the Brandywine Valley Symphony Chamber Orchestra as part of her recent interview with The Piano Pod

A Romantic from Kharkiv
Music of Sergei Bortkiewicz

Piano Concerto No. 1
One Thousand and One Nights

Anna Shelest, piano,
Neeme Järvi, conductor,
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra,

listen here

The album is nominated for an International Classical Music Award. Read more

“This is the finest recording we have had of Bortkiewcz’s magnificent Piano Concerto No 1…”
“Shelest and Järvi, in the Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, are in the moment and spine-tingling.”
Gramophone Magazine

read the full Gramophone review here

read review in Classical Music Sentinel here

read review in the Pizzicato magazine here (in German and English)

Calendar

Click here for past events

about

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.

Anna’s current season includes solo and duo performances throughout the country, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and The Peggy Rockefeller Concert Series at The Rockefeller University, debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Vasily Petrenko, return to Estonia for another concert/recording with Neeme Järvi and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and re-engagement with Ohio’s Springfield Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson to close their season with Sergei Bortkiewcz First Piano Concerto.

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 received 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 with returns to Tallinn for the performances and recordings of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Cécile Chaminade’s Concertstück, followed by two great Eastern European works - Artur Lemba’s Piano Concerto #2 and Sergei Bortkiewicz’s Piano Concerto #1 

while the repertoire for her May, 2027 engagement is Rudolf Tobias’ Piano Concerto in d (Estonia’s first piano concerto), Eduard Tubin’s Concertino for Piano & Orchestra and Richard Strauss’ Burleske.

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’s latest album, “A Romantic from Kharkiv,” is devoted to the music of Sergei Bortkiewicz and includes both solo works and the Piano Concerto #1, again under the baton of Maestro Järvi. Just weeks after its October, 2025 release, this CD has been nominated for an International Classical Music Award and hailed by the Gramophone magazine as “… the finest recording we have had of Bortkiewcz's magnificent Piano Concerto No 1... “

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.” 

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.

Shelest Piano Duo

“Be warned- it will knock you right off your seat!” -the Whole Note

“…refreshing delight… boisterous dexterity” -Stage & Cinema

Praised by Fanfare for their “stirring performances of rare repertory,” pianists Anna and Dmitri Shelest met as classmates at Ukraine’s Kharkiv Special Music School and began performing together after marrying in the United States. Their inventive programs have taken them to major concert halls and international cultural and diplomatic events, prompting former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to praise their work as having “realized diplomacy through music.” The WholeNote described their playing as “raw pianism and as thrilling as four hands performance can get,” adding, “Be warned—it will knock you right off your seat!”

The duo’s 2026–27 season includes the opening concert of the Ukrainian Cultural Festival at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, featuring the American premiere of Oleh Bezborodko’s Concerto for Piano Four Hands and Orchestra; a recital as part of The Peggy Rockefeller Concert Series at The Rockefeller University; and the release of their third album, featuring Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi.

Their other albums include Tutti, featuring orchestral arrangements for piano four hands; Ukrainian Rhapsody, which marked their 2018 Carnegie Hall debut and highlighted Ukrainian music; and Donna Voce III, in which they are featured in works by Cécile Chaminade. Anna also maintains an active solo career, while Dmitri has extensive experience as a recording engineer, having produced more than a dozen piano and orchestra recordings.

Anna and Dmitri have produced over 100 episodes for their YouTube channel, “Shelest at the Piano,” in which they explore a variety of repertoire and share their passion for the piano. They make their home in New York City with their two sons.

REcordings

Anton Rubinstein

Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 25
Piano Concerto No. 2 in EF Major, Op. 35
Pièces caractéristiques, Op. 50

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Järvi, conductor
Anna Shelest, piano

listen here

Interviews on ClassicalMPR
Interview on WOSU
Interview on KPR
Review by Stage & Cinema

Anton Rubinstein

Piano Concerto No. 3 in G, Op. 45
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat, Op. 94

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Järvi, conductor
Anna Shelest, piano

Anton Rubinstein

Piano Concerto No.4 Op. 70 in D minor; Caprice Russe Op. 102 in C minor

Live at Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.
Neeme Järvi, conductor
The Orchestra Now
Anna Shelest, piano

review in The Whole Note Magazine here

Anna and Dmitri Shelest, piano

Mykola Lysenko Suite on Ukrainian Themes, Op. 2
M. Lysenko Overture to the Opera “Taras Bulba”, arr. for piano four hands by Levko Revutsky
L. Revutsky Preludes, Op. 4 & Op. 7, Waltz
Alexander Zhuk Ukrainian Rhapsody
Myroslav Skoryk Three Extravagant Dances for piano four hands

Review by Stage & Cinema…

Sergei Prokofiev

Piano Concertos No. 1, Op. 10 in D-flat and No. 2 Op. 16 in G minor

Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra
Niels Muus, conductor
Anna Shelest, piano

TUTTI

Orchestral arrangements for piano four hands

Shelest Piano Duo

Bedřich Smetana Moldau
Franz Liszt Les Préludes
Peter Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, "Pathetique": III. Allegro molto vivace
Maurice Ravel La Valse, arr. for piano four hands by Lucien Garban
George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, arr. for piano four hands by Henry Levine

review in The Whole Note Magazine

Spirit & Romance

Bach-Busoni Chaconne
Franz Liszt Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
Schubert-Liszt Gretchen am Spinnrade
Wagner-Liszt Isoldes Liebestod
Schumann Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 11

Pictures at an Exhibition

Ginka-Balakirev “The Lark”
Tchaikovsky Romance Op.5; Valse Op.40 No.8; Romance Op.51 No.5; Valse Op.40 No.9; Nocturne Op.10
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

broadcasts:

Estonia Concert Hall
ESTONIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Neeme Järvi, conductor
Artur Lemba. Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor
Sergei Bortkiewicz. Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 16
watch broadcast

Estonia Concert Hall
ESTONIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Neeme Järvi, conductor
Anton Rubinstein Piano Concerto No. 2 in F, Op. 35
watch broadcast

Estonia Concert Hall
ESTONIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Neeme Järvi, conductor
Clara Schumann Piano Concerto op. 7
Cecile Chaminade Konzertstuck op. 40
Francis Poulenc Concerto for two pianos
With Dmitri Shelest
watch broadcast

Donna Voce ( Woman’s voice) is an ongoing musical project dedicated to celebrating women composers from the 18th to the 21st century. Launched with the 2019 album Donna Voce, the project has expanded to include live performances, lectures, videos, and sequel albums—Donna Voce II, featuring Fanny Mendelssohn’s Das Jahr, and Donna Voce III: Concerti with Neeme Järvi and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra featuring Clara Schuman Piano Concerto and Cecile Chaminade Konzertstuck.

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Gallery

Booking

Exclusive Representation:

PARKER ARTISTS

Thomas F. Parker

101 West 81st Street #616,
New York, NY 20024
(212) 864-7928

tom@parkerartists.com

www.parkerartists.com

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