“Elenora is the owner of a sensitive and intimate pianism, with a clean and passionate technique; between her fingers the cascade of sounds seems to gush like water from streams”
The Italian- American Elenora Pertz is a multi-faceted pianist whose playing has been described as “magnificent, with endless subtlety”.
Elenora has performed extensively in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Musée d’Orsay, Oxford Song Festival, Atélier Lyrique de Tourcoing, LIFE Victoria Festival, and performed live on France Musique and SWR.
Highlights of her 2025/2026 season making debuts at Konzerthaus Berlin, Heidelberger Frühling, Grand Manège Namur, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, and Semper Oper Dresden; post-Winterreise— an eco-feminist perspective on Schubert’s classic song cycle— with performances at Tanglewood Festival in Boston and Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Belgium; teaching song masterclasses at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and International Opera Academy in Ghent; musically assisting Joana Mallwitz in a new production of “Lohengrin” at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, and the release of her debut solo album TERRA in Spring 2026. Her recital partners this year include Valerie Eickhoff, Julian Prégardian, Äneas Humm, Bryan Benner, Andrew Munn, and Jeeyoung Lim.
Elenora has recorded both art song and instrumental chamber music for labels such as Hännsler Classics and B Records. Her debut solo album TERRA, which connects the piano with the earth element, will be released on May 1st, 2026 under Solo Musica label and represented by Büro für Künstler PR. In her art and projects she strives for both expertise and authenticity, highlighting the universality of classical music for those intimidated by its perceived exclusivity.
Since the Wintersemester of 2023-24, Elenora leads the art song class (Liedgestaltung) at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, and has taught seminars on creativity and worked as a vocal coach at the Universität der Künste Berlin. She frequently leads song masterclasses at universities and opera studios in both Europe and America, as well as in collaboration with singers KS Brigitte Fassbaender (Eppaner Lied Sommer, Schleswig Holstein Festival) and KS Marlis Petersen (Richard Strauss Festival). Trained originally as a classical ballerina, Elenora feels at home in the theatre and as an opera pianist has worked at the Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Komische Oper Berlin with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Thomas Guggeis, and Stephan Zilias. In the 2024/25 season she assisted Esa-Pekka Salonen in the celebrated premiere of Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina at the Helsinki Festival and the Easter Festival of the Salzburger Festispiel.
She holds solo and collaborative piano degrees from Vanderbilt University, Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität Wien, and Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin. She is an alumnus of the Orsay-Royaumont Lied and Mélodie Academie, a Leeds Lieder, Britten Pears, and Lied Basel young artist, as well as a Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now fellowship scholar. She was particularly shaped as a young musician by the Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien under the leadership of Dr. Deen Larsen. In her bachelor studies at Vanderbilt University, she was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest recognition from the school.
In 2021 Elenora founded the non-profit Lied the Way e.V. whose goal is to network and empower women in the art song community, and to raise awareness of the glass ceiling for female art song pianists in the industry. Every year they host a workshop for female song duos in Florence at Mascarade Opera, to explore the ways in which women can holistically collaborate with one another and create authentic artistic paths. www.liedtheway.com
Central themes to Elenora’s work are celebrating women and the natural world, and highlighting the cyclical correlations between the two.
A polyglot, Elenora speaks four languages fluently and currently is based between Berlin and Marseille.
