Alexandra Dariescu

Pianist Alexandra Dariescu moves past standard recital formats by originating the multimedia production The Nutcracker and I, an outreach piece aimed at listeners encountering classical music for the first time. Appearances have taken her to major international venues, and her catalog includes the 2024 album pairing concertos by Clara Schumann and Edvard Grieg.

She entered the world on August 16, 1985, in Iași, located in Romania’s Moldavia region. Piano lessons began at age seven; by nine she was ready to perform as concerto soloist with the Moldova Philharmonic Orchestra. A major Romanian scholarship awarded at seventeen led her to London, where she first attended Pocklington School before completing undergraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. While there, the BBC Radio Network aired her performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat major, K. 450.

Instruction came from Alexander Melnikov, Nelson Goerner, Mark Ray, and Dina Parakhina, after which she received her degree in 2008 accompanied by several honors. She then earned a master’s degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Further masterclasses and lessons included a period of study with András Schiff in New York.

Her recording career opened in 2012 on the Champs Hill label with the release Alexandra Dariescu Plays Schumann, Liszt, Chopin. The next year she played at London’s Royal Albert Hall, becoming the first female Romanian pianist to do so.

Orchestral collaborations have included the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra. In 2017 she made her Musikverein debut in Vienna with Dinu Lipatti’s Concertino and Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16.

The Nutcracker and I, combining dance and digital animation, premiered that same year at Milton Court within the Barbican and has since received numerous performances. Additional recordings appear on NMC and Signum Classics; for Champs Hill she taped the Grieg concerto and Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in D minor, Op. 7, with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 2024.