Alyona Waldo

piano

A native of Voronezh, Russia, Alyona A. Waldo enjoys an established career as a chamber musician, collaborative pianist, and educator. Her playing has been described as “exciting…ravishing…sublime” (Ellen Moryl, Founder/Director Emeritus of Piccolo Spoleto Festival).
As a chamber musician she performs with duo partner and cellist James Waldo as the A.W.Duo throughout the U.S. and China. Other notable chamber music collaborations include concerts with cellist Sara Sant’Ambrosio, and festival engagements at La Lingua Della Lirica Festival in Novafeltria, Italy; Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Midsummer’s Music, Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, and Portland International Piano Festival. Alyona performed regularly for five years as core member Listen Closely Chamber Music Initiative based in uptown Manhattan, and has performed on such New York stages as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center, and the Polish, Russian, and French Consulates in NYC.
Winner of the Second Gavrilin Governer’s International Competition (Russia) and finalist of the Third International Gnessin Piano Competition in Moscow, Alyona made her debut with the Voronezh Academic Symphony Orchestra at age 16, and was invited for return performances multiple times.
Alyona now resides in Madison, WI, where she serves as pianist for Uri Vardi’s cello studio and maintains her own private piano studio. She has served on the faculty of the Portland International Piano Festival in Maine, and as staff pianist for the Mannes Prep Division in NYC.