Biography

Aliya Alsafa is an 18 year old pianist currently located in New York City, NY, and originally from Chicago, Illinois. She has participated in local, national, and international piano competitions. Aliya won First Prize in the primary division of the Emilio Del Rosario Concerto Competition, Chopin Youth Piano Competition, and Walgreens National Concerto Early Music Division. She also won First Prize in state and regional contests and Second Prize nationally in MTNA for composition.  Aliya has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards: she was a medalist and category winner of "Best Chopin Etude" at the 2017 Seattle International Piano Competition. At the MostArts festival, she played with the orchestra at Miller Theater in New York as recipient of the Audience Favorite prize. Aliya was also awarded First Prize in the Sejong Piano Competition. She is a Steinway Young Artist as well as a Lang Lang Young Scholar. Most recently, she has been named a YoungArts Winner and an Artemisia Akademie Fellow.

She has been praised for her artistry and musical sensitivity. Aliya has performed for several prestigious concert venues such as Carnegie Weill’s Recital Hall, Wigmore Hall, Ravinia Bennett-Gordon Hall, Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, Merkin Hall, and Paul Hall. She was also the youngest pianist to play at Chicago’s Symphony Center for the “Keys to the City” festival hosted by Emanuel Ax. Aliya has also performed Respighi’s Fountains of Rome with the Juilliard Precollege Orchestra at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

In 2013, Aliya was one of twelve pianists worldwide, selected for the inaugural Allianz Junior Music Camp through the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. She played in a masterclass as well as outreach concerts for schools in Munich, Germany. She continues her involvement with the foundation as a Lang Lang Young Scholar Alumni.

At a young age, Aliya discovered her passion for music and began lessons at age three. She currently studies piano performance at the Juilliard Pre-College as a student of Hung-Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone and has previously studied with Prof. Matti Raekallio. She has also studied composition with Matt Hagle. In Chicago, Aliya has previously studied with Mary Sauer, Sueanne Metz, Claire Aebersold & Ralph Neiweem. 

Aliya enjoys community service and has previously performed at school outreach concerts, retirement homes, and fundraising events. She is a Davidson Young Scholar since 2010. Aliya also won 1st place in the Northwestern University Midwest Academic Talent Search, a competition with over 12,000 students grades 3-9. Among her other interests are composition and dance.