Michael Tsalka

Internationally renowned pianist and early keyboard performer Michael Tsalka has won numerous international awards and prizes. A versatile musician, he performs solo and chamber music repertoire from the Baroque to the Contemporary periods on the modern piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord, square piano and positive organ.

Career

Tsalka has performed repeatedly throughout Europe, the U.S.A., Canada, Israel, Asia, and Latin America. In the last two years he has given concerts for the Chicago Radio, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Derjayev Museum in St. Petersburg, the Filharmonika Orchestra in Manila. the Händelhaus in Halle, the Bellas Artes Theater and the National Museum of Arts in Mexico City, the Mozart Fest in Austin, the Osaka Festival in Japan, the Hong Kong Radio, Confidencen Hall in Stockholm and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

2011-2012 engagements include presentations at the prestigious Cervantino Festival in Mexico, the International Bach Music Festival in China, the Henri Kraun Concert Hall in Jerusalem and the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Tsalka will also record two CDs for Naxos at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and a CD for the Paladino label in Vienna.

Throughout his career, he has received numerous favorable reviews from the press: “Tsalka demonstrated control of a pearly, brilliant touch, as well as a subtle phrasing, full of nobility and expression.” (El Siglo, Argentina); “Two sonatas by Daniel Gottlob Türk, played on clavichord, were another high point [of the recital]. The sound of the clavichord made the audience listen with increased concentration and created a highly intense atmosphere" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung); “Tsalka is evidently a true, brilliant musician…” (Clavichord International, Amsterdam); “The concert of Ticciati and Tsalka was a smashing success...” (Global Times, Beijing); “Different styles and schools eloquently surfaced in Tsalka’s renditions, each enriched by enlightening commentary, accompanied by brilliant demonstration on the piano” (Philippine Star, Manila);“Tsalka quickly took command of the evening at the full concert hall and did so with such simplicity and great elegance that the public was enchanted.” (Folket, Sweden); “Tsalka is one of the most important harpsichordists in the world today.” (Jornada de Oriente, Mexico); “Tsalka showed almost incredible virtuosity throughout...” (The Berkshire Review, Boston).

Tsalka graduated with a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the Rubin Academy of Music of Tel Aviv University. He then continued studies in Germany and Italy. In 2001, he received a piano solo diploma from the Scuola Superiore Internazionale del Trio di Trieste. From 2002 to 2008, he resided in Philadelphia and studied at Temple University fortepiano and chamber music with Lambert Orkis, modern piano and piano duo with Harvey Wedeen, and harpsichord, clavichord and positive organ with Joyce Lindorff. Tsalka holds three degrees from that institution: a master’s degree in chamber music/accompanying, a master’s degree in harpsichord performance and a doctorate in piano performance.

From 2009 to 2011 Dr. Tsalka was professor of harpsichord and chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Música, National Center for the Arts in México City.

Awards

Tsalka received the Rotary Germany Grant in Bonn, the Pestalozzi Award in Frankfurt am Main, the Genoa International Competition, the Nouro International Competition in Sardinia, and the second prize at the Nicolai Rubinstein International Competition in Paris. In 2004, he received the Jacobs Music Company Steinway Award, and in 2007 the prestigious Presser Award (Philadelphia). In 2009 he was an artist-in-residence of the Ragdale Foundation in Chicago, at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Minnesota, and at the Lions Palace in Berlin.

References

• "michael tsalka". http://www.michaeltsalka.com.