Romanian born British pianist and creator of “The Nutcracker and I”, Alexandra Dariescu dazzles audiences and critics worldwide with her effortless musicality and captivating stage presence. Alexandra’s vision and innovative approach to programming to makes her stand out as a creative entrepreneur who likes to think differently.
Dariescu’s 2018/19 season marks a special focus on works by female composers in important milestones including her debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and James Gaffigan, performing Nadia Boulanger’s Fantaisie variée at London’s Barbican and a return visit to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Jessica Cottis, performing Germaine Tailleferre’s Ballade for piano and orchestra. Alexandra returns to the Hallé Orchestra Manchester and Jonathan Heyward (Tchaikovsky 1) and
Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle with Daniel Huppert (Rachmaninov 2) while at the Wigmore Hall, Dariescu presents an all-French recital with works by Debussy, Messiaen, Faure, Tailleferre and Lili Boulanger.
After the highly acclaimed premiere of Dariescu’s own production The Nutcracker and I – a ground-breaking multimedia performance for piano solo with dance and digital animation – at Barbican’s Milton Court in December 2017 – Alexandra will take the Nutcracker on a world tour, performing across Europe at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Bozar Brussels, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Konserthuset Göteborg, King’s Place London amongst others as well as touring China, Australia and the Emirates. In addition, Alexandra has just released an audio book of the same name on the Signum label, with the story written by Jessica Duchen and narrated by celebrated TV children presenter Lindsey Russell.
This season Alexandra completes her Trilogy of Preludes with Boulanger/Messiaen/Faure which compliments the previously released CDs of Chopin/Dutilleux and Shostakovich/Szymanowski complete preludes (Champs Hill Records). 2016 saw the release of two concerto discs: Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto No. 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Darrell Ang (Signum Records) and Emily Howard’s Mesmerism (NMC Records), a concerto written especially for Alexandra, which won the British Composer of the Year at the BASCA awards. Recently, Alexandra toured with the European Union Youth Orchestra under the baton of Vasily Petrenko after celebrating a range of acclaimed debuts in North America with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec(Fabien Gabel), Utah Symphony Orchestra (Kazuki Yamada), Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (Marzena Diakun) and her Chinese debut with the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra (Darrell Ang) as well as two different sold out performances
at the Wiener Staatsoper with Angela Gheorghiu and concertos at the Musikverein.
Alexandra has been mentored by Sir András Schiff and Imogen Cooper. After graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music with the Gold Medal, where she studied with Nelson Goerner, Alexander Melnikov, Mark Ray and Dina Parakhina, Alexandra pursued her Masters at the Guildhall school of Music and Drama with Ronan O’Hora. A former artist of the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT), Alexandra was a Laureate at the Verbier Festival Academy and received the UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category. In 2017 Alexandra was appointed patron of Music in Lyddington, Cultural Ambassador of Romania and Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Northern College of Music. In spring 2018, Alexandra received the “Officer of the Romanian Crown” from
the Royal Family and was selected as a Young European Leader by Friends of Europe.
