Michael Tsalka

Michael Tsalka is currently serving as Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Music of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

As a concert pianist and early keyboard performer, he has won numerous prizes in Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America. He is a versatile musician, who performs repertoire from the late Renaissance to our days. He has released over forty critically-acclaimed CDs, which include many world-premiere recordings, for labels such as NAXOS, Grand Piano, Paladino, Brilliant Classics, IMI, Sheva Collection, Wirripang, Tempus Clasico, and Ljud & Bild. Together with musicologist Dr. Angélica Minero Escobar, he has prepared a critical edition of Daniel Gottlob Türk's 30 keyboard sonatas for Artaria Editions in New Zealand. Additionally, his scholarly articles have been published in music journals in Italy, the U.S.A., and the Netherlands.
Prof. Tsalka maintains a busy concert schedule, performing circa ninety concerts a year. Recent engagements include the Hall of Central Harmony (Beijing, Forbidden City), Bellas Artes Theater (Mexico City), the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), the Metropolitan Museum (New York), St. Denis Festival (Paris), Beethoven House (Bonn), City Opera (Tokyo), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Volksbühne (Berlin), the Jerusalem Music Centre, Kazan Conservatory of Music, Museo de la Música (Barcelona), the Mozarteum (Salzburg), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the ElbPhilharmonie (Hamburg), Shanghai Concert Hall, and Xinghai Concert Hall (Guangzhou), plus live performances for radio and television stations around the globe. He has performed as soloist with many orchestras, recently with the Sydney Consort and Thorough Bass (Australia), Musica Florea (Prague, Czech Republic), Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham University Chamber Orchestra (U.K.) and the Krasnoyarsk Chamber Orchestra (Russia).
Dr. Tsalka was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. After studying in Israel, Germany, and Italy, he graduated in 2008 from Temple University (U.S.A) with a D.M.A. in Piano Performance and two Master's degrees in Early Keyboard Performance and Chamber Music. His mentors included Lambert Orkis, Joyce Lindorff, and Harvey Wedeen, as well as Dario di Rosa, Klaus Schilde, Malcolm Bilson, David Shemer, Sandra Mangsen, and Charles Rosen.
From 2009-2014, he was a professor of harpsichord and chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Música, National Center for the Arts in Mexico City, and at Lilla Akademien, Stockholm. Apart from his current professorship at CUHK, Shenzhen, he is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), Salzburg, Austria, the Chairman of the Board of the European Fortepiano Museum and Academy (EFM) in Germany, a visiting Professor at Celaya Conservatory of Music in Guanajuato, Mexico, and an Artist-in-Residence at the Nelson Center of Musical Arts (NCMA, New Zealand).
2025 highlights include performances at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna); the modern world premiere performance of Vanhal’s Clavier Concerto in A Major alongside the orchestral ensemble Musica Florea at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague; the world premiere performance of Nicholas Smith’s Allegro for Piano and a Wind Band in Chengdu, China; plus solo and chamber music performances at the Muenster Theater (Germany), the Tel-Aviv Museum, Fitzwilliam College (Cambridge), and the Divertimento International Music Festival (Mexico City); Dr. Tsalka also presented this year master classes and lecture-recitals at the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan, Auckland University, the Schubert Society (Sydney). He also released three CDs for the labels Paladino (Vienna), Wirripang (Australia) and Tempus Clásico (Mexico).
Dr. Tsalka has collaborated with musicians such as Lambert Orkis, Cynthia Roberts, Peter Sykes, Alon Sariel, Bridget Douglas, and Christopher Hogwood. His chamber music performances often include complete cycles, among them: J. S. Bach's Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord Sonatas, W. A. Mozart's Clavier and Violin Sonatas and his complete works for four hands, L. v. Beethoven's Clavier and Cello Sonatas, F. Schubert's Four Hands Clavier works and J. Brahms's Cello and Piano and Violin and Piano Sonatas.
Prof. Tsalka's students have been accepted to prestigious institutions worldwide, often with complete grants and awards, and have won first prizes in International Competitions. In 2025, he won the CUHK, SZ Ethics Teaching Award.