Alexander Jurak, Practice Pianist
Pianist Alexander Jurak began his musical studies at the age of four under the guidance of Robert Apostle. He continued his training at the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division, where he studied with Yegor Shevtsov, Brandt Fredriksen, and Maria Asteriadou, graduating with honors in 2022. From 2018 to 2020, he also pursued private studies in composition with twelve-time Grammy Award-winning composer, arranger, and producer Thomas Z. Shepard. Alexander is currently pursuing his undergraduate studies in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of William Wolfram.
An accomplished young pianist, Alexander has received numerous awards and distinctions in national and international competitions. In 2020, he was awarded First Prize at the Elite International Music Competition, performing at Weill Recital Hall, and Third Prize in the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Philharmonic Level Piano Competition. In 2021, as winner of the Kutztown University Inspiring Youth Competition, he appeared as soloist with the Kutztown Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor. The following year, he received First Prize in the Triumph Music Festival’s Rachmaninoff Piano Competition. In 2025, he was selected as one of four finalists in the Manhattan School of Music’s Eisenberg-Fried Piano Concerto Competition.
Alexander’s festival appearances include the inaugural Crane International Piano Festival in 2019 and the Kutztown University Summer Chamber Festival, where he was named a Merit Scholar. That same year, he was featured in the Half Hollow Hills School District NYSSMA Honors Piano Recital. In 2023, he made his debut as a featured artist with the Winter Harbor Music Festival Concert Series and attended the Colorado College Summer Music Festival on a full scholarship.
His recent orchestral engagements include a 2025 appearance in Thessaloniki, Greece, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, with the Thessaloniki University Orchestra. Most recently, Alexander performed Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Ithaca University's Ho-Yin Kwok at the inaugural year of the Eastern Festival of Music under the direction of Gerard Schwarz.