ARIA award-winning pianist, Tamara-Anna Cislowska is one of Australia’s most renowned, respected and celebrated classical pianists, performing and recording in Australia and internationally to critical and public acclaim. Earning international prizes in London, Italy and Greece and touring Japan and the USA as cultural ambassador for Australia, Tamara’s accolades include ABC Young Performer of the Year, the Freedman Fellowship, an Art Music Award for ‘Performance of the Year’ (ACT) and the 2015 ARIA award for ‘Best Classical Album’.
Tamara has performed recitals at London’s Purcell Room, the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and New York’s Frick Collection, and as soloist with the London Philharmonic, Puerto Rico Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and all major Australasian symphony orchestras. Recent highlights include touring with CIRCA for New York’s White Light Festival at the Lincoln Center, and the world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s Piano Concerto no.3, Lebewohl with the Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.
The 2023/24 season held concerto engagements with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (cond. Dmitri Matvienko), with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for the premiere of Kats-Chernin’s Ancient Letters concerto for piano, later recorded for release in 2025. She played as pianist in the sold-out Sydney Opera House world premiere of ‘Human Waves’, commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for its Centenary Celebrations, with music by Kats-Chernin and libretto by Cislowska, and to a sold-out Ulumbarra Theatre as soloist with the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra. Chamber performances included a curated program for Bleach Festival with soprano Tarita Botsman (Gold Coast), for Canberra International Music Festival, in recital for Musica Viva Tasmania, Piano Plus, the Sunshine Coast Chamber Music Festival and Australian Digital Concert Hall’s 88 Keys piano festival in Melbourne.
In 2025, Tamara returns as soloist with the Tasmanian Symphony, tours nationally with the Australian Chamber Orchestra with theremin player Carolina Eyck, and performs Human Waves, her work with Elena Kats-Chernin, on two pianos with a specially commissioned new verse, for River City Voices. Continuing to host international stars on DUET, Tamara also performs in recital, including with Elena Kats-Chernin, four hands at the piano. Tamara’s highly anticipated new recording of Kats-Chernin’s concerti with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is due for mid-year release on ABC Classic.
With over 8 million streams annually on Spotify alone and ten ARIA no.1 albums for ABC Classics, Deutsche Grammophon and Naxos, Tamara is undoubtedly one of Australia’s most globally recognised pianists in classical music today. Presenting for ABC Classic in her weekly program, ‘Duet’ – featuring interviews and live performances with international and Australian guests such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lang Lang, Stephen Hough, Ben Folds and Cate Blanchett – Tamara continues to earn praise from audiences and critics alike, with her latest chart-topping album, of performances drawn from the show, nominated for ‘Best Classical Album’ in the 2022 ARIA Awards.
For more information, please visit www.tamara-annacislowska.com
Photography: Tyler Alberti Photography
Latest News
November 2021, Tamara releases DUET (ABC Classics) with 22 acclaimed and ARIA-winning guest artists who perform a duet performance, broadcast live on air, with Tamara. The album reached top ten in both ARIA’s Classical and Classical/Crossover charts. Read more here
Tamara’s 2014 CD, Peter Sculthorpe: Complete Works for Solo Piano (ABC Classics), enjoys weeks at no.1 on the ARIA Classical Charts, and 5 star reviews in BBC Music Magazine where it is ‘Recording of the Month – Instrumental’, in Limelight magazine where it is ‘Editor’s Choice’ and in Fine Music Magazine.
