Ellen Sirower

Pianist Ellen Sirower is a versatile soloist, chamber musician, scholar, and educator currently based in Austin, Texas. She is an active performer, and has made concert appearances as both a soloist and collaborator across the United States. Ellen was a gold medalist in the 2019 International Keyboard Odyssiad Competition, and has placed in other local, national, and international competitions such as the Texas MTNA Competition and the Vancouver International Music Competition. She has also been a fully-funded piano fellow at various summer festivals, including the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, the Classical Music Institute, and the PianoTexas International Festival and Academy.

Ellen graduated with high honors from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with bachelor’s degrees in piano performance and philosophy. Her primary teacher was Amy I-Lin Cheng. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in piano performance at The University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music, where she also completed her master's degree. She studies under Gregory Allen and works as a keyboard teaching assistant.

Energized by her teaching experience and philosophical education, Ellen pursues research in the intersection between philosophy and piano pedagogy. Her current interests lie particularly in philosophical and pedagogical approaches to interpretation with post-tonal repertoire. In promoting this research to wider audiences, Ellen recently won the Outstanding Creativity Award in UT Austin’s “Empower Your Pitch” competition. Her published work can be found in Piano Magazine and American Music Teacher.  

Ellen is also the founder of Musical Philosophers—a Philosophy for Children program at The University of Texas (UT) Elementary School that specifically focuses on the philosophy of music. The program is currently integrated with the fifth grade music curriculum at UT Elementary, and is funded in full by PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization).