Michael Tsalka is a Dutch-Israeli

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and early keyboard performer. He performs solo and chamber music from the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

to the

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

periods on the modern

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

fortepiano A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...

square piano The square piano is a type of piano that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side, with the sounding board above a cavity in the short side. It is variously ...

and

positive organ A positive organ (also positiv organ, positif organ, portable organ, chair organ, or simply positive, positiv, positif, or chair) (from the Latin verb ''ponere'', "to place") is a small, usually one-manual, pipe organ that is built to be more o ...

. Michael Tsalka, who is the oldest son of Israeli writer Dan Tsalka, performs throughout Europe, the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Latin America. Recent engagements include the Boston Early Music Festival, the Gasteig in Münich, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Bellas Artes Theater in Mexico City, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, the Hermitage Festival in St. Petersburg, and full programs and interviews for radio stations in Hong Kong, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Chicago, Berlin, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Jerusalem.

Career

Michael Tsalka graduated in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the Rubin Academy of Music at the

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. He then continued studying in Germany and Italy. In 2001, he received a piano solo diploma from the Scuola Superiore Internazionale del Trio di Trieste, where he studied with pianist Dario so Rosa. From 2002 to 2008, he resided in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and studied at the Esther Boyer College of Music of

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

with pianists

Lambert Orkis Lambert Orkis (born 1946, Philadelphia) is an American classical pianist. His career has been based on many differing roles: ranging from being the collaborative pianist for Anne-Sophie Mutter for works of piano and violin chamber music since 198 ...

Harvey Wedeen Harvey D. Wedeen (March 23, 1927 – March 13, 2015) was an American classical pianist and piano teacher. He served as the chair of the keyboard department at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia for 51 years u ...

, and harpsichordist 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. Other mentors included Darío di Rosa, Malcolm Bilson, David Shemer, Charles Rosen and Sandra Mangsen. From 2009 to 2011, Tsalka was a professor of harpsichord and chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Musica (CONACULTA / INBA). From 2011 to 2014 he taught at Musikskolan Lilla Akademien in Stockholm. Currently he is visiting professor at the School of Music of the University of Auckland. In addition, Dr. Michael Tsalka has presented over 130 master classes in academic institutions in all continents. Currently, he heads the keyboard Department at the Vanke Meisha Arts Academy (VMAA) in Shenzhen, China. He is also Artist in Residence at the Nelson Center for Musical Arts in New Zealand (2020). Michael Tsalka has released twenty-seven CDs for labels such as NAXOS, Grand Piano (Hong Kong), Paladino (Vienna), Brilliant Classics (Amsterdam), IMI (Tel-Aviv), Wirripang (Australia), Sheva Collection (London/Milano), and Ljud & Bild (Stockholm). Current and future recording projects include CDs dedicated to keyboard works by J. S. Bach, Daniel Gottlob Türk, Johann Baptist Wanhal, Carl Dittersdorf, W.A. Mozart, Ferdinand Ries, Franz Schubert, F. Chopin, Viktor Ullmann, Leonardo Coral, Paul Ben-Haim and Yehezkel Braun. His CDs have received excellent reviews and the attention of respected critics. In 2013 his recording of the Goldberg Variations on two clavichords was chosen as one of eight CDs of the year by MusicWeb International. More than fifty composers have dedicated works for Tsalka, which he premiered. Tsalka was the Artistic director of festivals in Mainland China, Sweden, Spain, Finland, and the Netherlands. He was the co artistic director of the Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival (2012-2015). Since 2014, he is also artistic director of the annual Geelvinck International Fortepiano Festival. Tsalka's students have been accepted in prestigious imstituitions, including the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the HDK in Berlin, Grieg Academy in Norway, and the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. Several of his students have recently won first prizes at International Piano competitions, for example, the International Mozart Competition in Shenzhen, and the Kingsburg International Piano Competition in Qingdao.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsalka, Michael Israeli musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)