Alexandra Dariescu, the visionary pianist behind "The Nutcracker and I", brings fearless curiosity, innovation and deep artistic integrity to her programmes and performances. From cherished classics by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Chopin, to the rediscovered works of Clara Schumann, Nadia & Lili Boulanger, George Enescu and Doreen Carwithen, she stands out as a distinct and original voice on the international piano stage. A sought-after soloist worldwide, Dariescu has forged strong relationships with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Detroit Symphony and Melbourne Symphony. Eminent collaborations include London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen Philharmonics and the Sydney, Houston, Detroit, Seattle and Vancouver Symphonies. Among the renowned conductors Alexandra has worked with are Ádám Fischer, Cristian Măcelaru, Alain Altinoglu, Sakari Oramo, John Storgårds, Fabien Gabel, Vasily Petrenko, Ryan Bancroft, James Gaffigan, and JoAnn Falletta.
In the 2025/26 season, Alexandra performs with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, followed by season opening concerts in Tallinn with the Estonian National Symphony and Olari Elts, and in Belgium with the Brussels Philharmonic and Kazushi Ōno. These performances will feature the powerful Fantasies by Nadia Boulanger and George Enescu, alongside Clara Schumann’s piano concerto, a signature piece for Dariescu. New debuts include performances with the Pacific Symphony and Tianyi Lu in the US, as well as engagements in Scandinavia with the Malmö and Aalborg Symphony Orchestras. In the UK, Alexandra reunites with the Royal Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras, and makes her much-anticipated debut in the Southbank Centre’s Piano Recital Series. She will close the season in Poland with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Krzysztof Urbański, followed by a UK tour, including performances in London and Birmingham.
In the 2024/25 season Dariescu made her debut with the Seattle Symphony, under the baton of Tianyi Lu. She then embarked on an Australian tour alongside Fabien Gabel, making her return to the Melbourne Symphony and debut with the West Australian Symphony Orchestras, followed by recitals in Sydney and Canberra. In Scandinavia, Dariescu made her anticipated debuts with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Danish Philharmonic Orchestras, whereas in the UK she gave subscription concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Royal Northern Sinfonia. Two significant highlights further complemented Dariescu’s season: her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the LSO Discovery series in the education project she co-created with Tim Redmond "Count Me In", and her participation as presenter of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition, where she supported The Alexandra Dariescu Award for an outstanding performance of a piece by a female composer. This is the first time for such an accolade to be introduced in an international piano competition, underlining Alexandra’s commitment to changing cultures, inspiring the younger generations and promoting gender equality in the classical music industry. The season marked yet another international tour of “The Nutcracker and I”, celebrating its 100th performance at Barbican Centre’s Milton Court. Further presentations took place in Paris at La Seine Musicale, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Opéra de Dijon, Megaron Athens Concert Hall and the Macao International Music Festival.
Testament to her ethos of championing a more inclusive repertoire, recent milestones in Dariescu’s career include opening the 2023/24 season for the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in the UK premiere of Dora Pejačević’s Phantasie Concertante. In the same season, Dariescu gave the world premiere of a new piano concerto written for her by James Lee III - "Shades of Unbroken Dreams" - in honour of the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic. In 2022, Dariescu made the world premiere recording of a newly discovered piano concerto by Leokadiya Kashperova (1900) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for BBC Radio 3’s acclaimed programme ‘Composer of the Week’. Further discoveries and important premieres of unjustly neglected concertos Dariescu has given include Nadia Boulanger’s Fantaisie Variée, the recently unearthed piano concerto by George Enescu, Concierto argentino by Alberto Ginastera, Dora Pejačević’s Phantasie Concertante, Doreen Carwithen Concerto for piano and strings and four piano concertos written for Dariescu: Emily Howard’s “Mesmerism”, Daniel Dhondy’s “In Touch”, Iris ter Shiphorst’s “Sometimes” and James Lee III’s “Shades of Unbroken Dreams”.
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 nine albums to critical acclaim, the latest disc being Clara Schumann and Grieg Piano Concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Tianyi Lu. The discography includes a Decca album with Angela Gheorghiu, a Trilogy of Complete Preludes series consisting of Chopin, Dutilleux, Shostakovich, Szymanowski, Messiaen, Faure and Lili Boulanger 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.
Alexandra Dariescu is the first ever female Romanian pianist to perform at the Royal Albert Hall and performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Staatsoper Vienna, Konzerthaus Vienna, BOZAR Brussels, Staatsoper Berlin, Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Sydney Opera House, Beijing National Centre for Performing Arts, Shanghai Grand Opera, Tokyo Musashino Hall, Dubai Opera, Wigmore, Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, Barbican amongst many others.
Mentored by Sir András Schiff and Dame Imogen Cooper, Dariescu studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Nelson Goerner, Alexander Melnikov, Dina Parakhina, Mark Ray; at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Ronan O’Hora; and in her hometown Iasi with Mihaela Constantin and Cornelia Apostol. She was a Laureate of the Verbier Festival Academy, receiving the UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category. Dariescu holds many special accolades including Cultural Ambassador of Romania, Officer of the Romanian Crown from the Royal Family and Young European Leader by Friends of Europe. In 2020, Dariescu received the Order 'Cultural Merit' in the rank of Knight from the Romanian President and became an Associated Member of the Royal Northern College of Music, where she also held the distinguished position of Professor of Piano for two years. From September 2024, Dariescu begins a new tenure as Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

The Philharmonia was founded in 1945 by EMI producer Walter Legge, originally as a recording orchestra for the growing home audio market. We have worked with a who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century music. Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini and Riccardo Muti are just a few of the great artists to be associated with the Orchestra, and we have premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others. We have always pioneered the use of technology to reach broader audiences for orchestral music. During the Coronavirus pandemic, we continued to create outstanding performances designed to experience online. We played for lifelong fans and first-time listeners in Brazil, Sudan, Indonesia, India, and high above the Arctic Circle in Norway.

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, in the heart of London, has been our home since 1995. We also have residencies at venues and festivals across England: Bedford Corn Exchange, De Montfort Hall in Leicester, The Marlowe in Canterbury, Anvil Arts in Basingstoke, the Three Choirs Festival in the West of England, and Garsington Opera. Central to all our residencies is a Learning & Engagement programme that empowers people to engage with, and participate in, orchestral music.

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