Ellen Sirower

Pianist Ellen Sirower is a versatile soloist, chamber musician, and educator currently based in Austin, Texas. She has made concert appearances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Manhattan School of Music, Colorado State University, Steinway Hall, Hill Auditorium, and New York’s Tenri Cultural Center. She recently was a gold medalist in the International Keyboard Odyssiad Competition, and was a finalist in the University of Michigan Undergraduate Concerto Competition with Liszt’s Totentanz. Festival participation includes the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, and the PianoTexas International Festival and Academy.
 
Ellen has devoted much of her time presenting and performing accessible classical music with a focus on music by living composers. She has collaborated with members of the Fifth House Ensemble, the Boston-based Callithumpian Consort, and the Talea Ensemble. Ellen currently plays with UT Austin’s acclaimed New Music Ensemble and the Austin-based Ensemble SoundMap. 

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 doctoral degree in piano performance at the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music, where she also recently completed her master's. She studies under Gregory Allen and works as a keyboard Teaching Assistant. Outside of UT, Ellen maintains a small studio of pre-college students at the Clavier-Werke School of Music. 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 how topics in aesthetics and philosophy of language—in practice—can facilitate effective and informed teaching with regards to performance practice, interpretation, and expressivity at every level.