​Elissa Miller-Kay

Canadian pianist Dr. Elissa Miller-Kay has been praised for her thoughtful interpretations of classical and romantic repertoire. She has performed widely across North America and Southeast Asia, where she currently resides. Her debut album, Images and Imaginings, featuring the music of Robert Schumann, was released in 2018.

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Recent performance include solo recitals on the Phnom Penh Classical Concert Series and at the Bangkok International Piano Festival. As a concerto soloist she has appeared with the Mississauga Symphony, the Oakville Symphony, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra, the York Symphony, and the Greater Toronto Philharmonic. Recital engagements include performances at Steinway Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Bohemian National Hall in New York City; the Beethoven Club in Memphis; Markham Theater in Markham, Ontario; and the Goethe Institute in Bangkok, Thailand.

Elissa Miller-Kay holds a PhD in Piano Studies from New York University, as well as degrees in piano performance from   Oberlin Conservatory  (Bachelor of Music), the Mannes School of Music (Master of Music), and the Royal Conservatory of Music (Licentiate Diploma with First Class Honors).  Her major teachers have included Aasta Levine, Peter Takács, Victor Rosenbaum, and Martin Canin. Elissa Miller-Kay has also benefited from working with renowned performers and pedagogues including Angela Cheng, Claude Frank, Richard Goode, Anton Kuerti, Andre LaPlante, Robert MacDonald, John Perry, Russell Sherman, and Jeffrey Swann. Awards include first prize in the International Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition (2009) and the Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award (2006).

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Elissa Miller-Kay is currently on faculty at the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music in Bangkok, Thailand where she teaches Piano Performance and Musicology. Her primary research interests are Beethoven reception, nineteenth-century  performance practice, and piano pedagogy. She recently published a beginner piano method book, Piano, So Fun! with Surachoke Satraphai. As a public service, Elissa and Surachoke have decided to make this book freely available online. See pianosofun.com for more information.

In addition to music, Elissa Miller-Kay has a passion for science and mathematics. Prior to attending Oberlin College, she studied biochemistry at the University of Toronto. She was a National Biology Scholar in the University of Toronto National Biology Competition in 1999. She won a Regent’s In-Course Scholarship, was a Dean’s List Scholar, and was the recipient of the Gollop Memorial Scholarship in Chemistry.