Alexandra Dariescu, creator of “The Nutcracker and I”, is a pianist for the 21^st century, standing out as an original voice whose fundamental values are shining a light on gender equality in both her concerto and recital programmes, championing and premiering lesser-known works. In demand as a soloist worldwide, she has performed with eminent orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Oslo Philharmonic and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, whilst the list of conductors she has worked with includes Adam Fischer, Cristian Măcelaru, Fabien Gabel, Jun Märkl, Vasily Petrenko, Ryan Bancroft, James Gaffigan, Jonathon Heyward, JoAnn Falletta and Michael Francis.

In the 2022/23 season, Dariescu makes her debut with Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie under Alain Altinoglu on La Monnaie’s 250th anniversary. Throughout the season, Dariescu holds three Artist-in-Residence titles, starting at Pfalztheater-Kaiserslautern Germany, where she explores fascinating juxtapositions between male and female composers, illuminating an inclusive picture of various historic artistic movements. In Canada she returns to Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, whilst in the US she debuts with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra as their Artist-in-Residence, followed by the Florida Orchestra. For her third residency this season, she returns to Iserlohn’s Internationale Herbsttage für Musik. Further highlights include debuts with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Real Filharmonía de Galicia, a tour of “The Nutcracker and I” in the UK, Germany and Greece, and recitals in the US with Angela Gheorghiu. Most recently, Dariescu made the world premiere recording of the newly discovered piano concerto by Leokadiya Kashperova with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for BBC Radio 3, and has been appointed Professor of Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Highlights of Dariescu’s 2021/22 season included the US premiere of the newly discovered piano concerto by George Enescu for her debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, followed by the US premiere of Nadia Boulanger’s Fantaisie Variée for her Houston Symphony debut. Further debuts included Basel Chamber Orchestra for her return to the Enescu Festival, Lapland Chamber Orchestra under John Storgårds and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra for the Finnish premiere of Boulanger’s Fantaisie under Tianyi Lu. In May 2022 Dariescu gave her Irish debut with the National Symphony Orchestra Dublin.

In 2017, Dariescu took the world by storm with her successful piano recital production “The Nutcracker and I”, an original ground-breaking multimedia performance for piano solo with dance and digital animation, which has since enjoyed international acclaim and has drawn thousands of young audiences into concert halls across Europe, Australia, China, the Emirates and the US, realising Dariescu’s vision of building bridges and making classical music more accessible to the wider public.

Dariescu has released eight albums to critical acclaim, the latest disc being her Decca recording with Angela Gheorghiu. The discography includes a Trilogy of Preludes series on Champs Hill Records, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Darrell Ang (Signum Records), in addition to “The Nutcracker and I” audio book.

Dariescu has been mentored by Sir András Schiff and Dame Imogen Cooper. A Laureate at the Verbier Festival Academy, she received the UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category. In 2017, Dariescu was appointed patron of Music in Lyddington and Cultural Ambassador of Romania. In spring 2018, Dariescu received the ‘Officer of the Romanian Crown’ from the Royal Family and was selected as a Young European Leader by Friends of Europe. In 2020, Dariescu received the Order ‘Cultural Merit’ in the rank of Knight by the Romanian President and became an Associated Member of the RNCM.