Elena Kats-Chernin (b. 1957) was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She was four years old when she started taking piano lessons, and she composed her first piano piece, Lullaby for Nick, at age five. After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she continued her composition studies in ...
Elena Kats-Chernin (b. 1957) was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She was four years old when she started taking piano lessons, and she composed her first piano piece, Lullaby for Nick, at age five. After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she continued her composition studies in Hanover, Germany, where she and three friends formed a vocal trio with piano called Red Hot & Blue. Back in Sydney, she collaborated with choreographer Meryl Tankard to create the “Deep Sea Dreaming” segment of the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony and the ballet Wild Swans. Since then, she has written numerous orchestral, solo, vocal, and chamber works, several operas, and three silent-film soundtracks. Fun fact: Elena was a competitive figure skater as a child, but ultimately chose music over sports.
