Biography

Hailed for having “established herself as a very fine interpreter…” (New York Concert Review), the award-winning Russian-born pianist Yelena Grinberg is rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most vibrant, inventive, and poetic young artists on the classical music scene. As a winner of the Artists International Competition (2005), Ms. Grinberg performed her sold-out New York Debut recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall and was highly acclaimed for her “grand performance in a grand tradition” (NYCR). Joined by her violinist partner, Emilie-Anne Gendron, as part of the G-Sharp Duo she performed her Alumni Winners Recital at Merkin Hall in 2008, sponsored by the Artists International Presentations. In 2008, the G-Sharp Duo was awarded a chamber music residency at the Banff Centre in Canada, where they worked closely with such eminent artists as Philip Setzer, Barry Shiffman, Mark Steinberg, and Stephen Prutsman.

The 2009-2010 season will feature solo and G-Sharp Duo lecture-performances and recitals dedicated to the commemoration of Mendelssohn’s, Schumann’s and Chopin’s 200^th Anniversary years. In Fall 2009, Ms. Grinberg presented a lecture-performance on “Finis Coronat Opus: Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations,” at the Down Town Association, as well as an all-Mendelssohn solo piano program at The Harvard Club. In Spring 2010, Ms. Grinberg will perform the program entitled “An Evening of a Romantic Dance,” featuring works by Weber, Schumann, Brahms, and Chopin.

The 2008-2009 season showcased a G-Sharp Duo lecture-performance, “From Heroic to Pastoral Style: Exploring Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata and Sonata in G, op. 96 as a Contrasting Pair,” at Columbia University, as well as a variety of concert, solo and chamber music appearances in venues such as Columbia’s Miller Theater, The Harvard Club, Maiden Lane Center, Tenri Cultural Institute of New York, and the Roerich Museum of New York. In Spring 2009, Ms. Grinberg explored the topic of “Beethoven and the Variation Genre” in her lecture-performance at The Harvard Club: “The Old and the New: Beethoven’s Variations in C minor, WoO 80, Six Variations in F, op. 34, and Fifteen Variations in E-flat (“Eroica”), op. 35.”

At Juilliard, Ms. Grinberg has served as a faculty member in the Piano Minor Department and taught the undergraduate course on Piano Topics. During 2003-2008, Ms. Grinberg was the organizer of the Barnard-Columbia-Juilliard (BCJ) concert series at Columbia University’s Miller Theater. In Summer 2008, she taught piano at Usdan Center for Creative and Performing Arts. Ms. Grinberg is currently an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University’s Music Department, where she coaches duo piano and chamber music. As of Fall 2009, she has also joined the piano faculty at the Crestwood Music Education Center in Eastchester, New York. In addition, Ms. Grinberg is a busy and dedicated private piano instructor, coordinating biannual student recitals at New York’s Steinway Hall.

Born in Moscow, Russia on February 3^rd, 1981, Ms. Grinberg began her professional piano studies at The Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children at the age of five. She came to the United States in 1992 and entered Juilliard’s Pre-College Division that same year. As a student in the joint degree program, Ms. Grinberg graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University summa cum laude, and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in English Literature and a minor in Philosophy. She holds both her M. Mus and DMA degrees in Piano Performance from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Jerome Lowenthal and Oxana Yablonskaya.

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♫ PRIVATE PIANO INSTRUCTION ~

To be considered for private piano lessons, please contact Ms. Grinberg at ygpiano@gmail.com