Elena Melnikowa, born in 1982 in Novosibirsk/Russia; received first piano and ballet lessons at the age of five. In 1989, she passed the entrance examination of the special music school for high potentials in Novosibirsk (Russia) and was among the students of Prof. Mari Lebenson’s class. First successes at different youth piano competitions followed suit: In 1994, the second prize at the Wladimir Krainew competition in Kharkov and the first prize at the piano competition Citta in Marsala; in 1995, the first prize at the International Tchaikovsky competition in Sendai, Japan. Ever since, she has been giving concerts in Italy, France, Japan, Germany, Russia, and Austria. Elena Melnikowa is a student of Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. In 2001 she won the first ZF Musik Award in Friedrichshafen.
