The great-great grandson of composer Alexander Scriabin, pianist Elisha Abas was a child prodigy who first appeared on the world stage at the age of six. He was the life-long student of Pnina Salzman, and by the age of eleven he had appeared with such great maestri as Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Zubin Mehta and Arthur Rubinstein, who became his mentor.
Abas has won many awards throughout the course of his career, having won the 1st prize at the America Israel Cultural Foundation Music Competition for eight consecutive years and the 1st prize at the Claremont Piano Competition. After nine busy years of touring the world, he took a break from performing in public, and became, in the meantime, a professional footballer in Israel’s premier league. He also gained a degree in law before returning to the world stage in 2004. In 2007 he returned to Carnegie Hall to great critical and public acclaim. His career instantly took off, even though Abas has been extremely selective regarding his public appearances.
He has given recitals throughout the world, including, among others, a tribute recital to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust organised by the United Nations in New York, at Smolny Cathedral in St Petersburg, Israel Radio's Kol Hamusica Festival and the New York Chamber Music Festival. His concert appearances have included Mozart’s Concerto No 23 with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in Caracas on the invitation of Gustavo Dudamel, the International Mahler Orchestra in Berlin, Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 1 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 2 with the Symphony Orchestra of Karelia and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Staatstheater Kassel Orchestra.
Discography includes recordings of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 1 (Urlicht AudioVisual, 2009), Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 23 (Follpro, 2010), works by Chopin and the American-Israeli composer Ronn Yedidia (Urlicht AudioVisual, 2011) and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 2 (Philadelphia International Music Foundation, 2012).
