Program :

American pianist Ariela Bohrod grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and began piano studies at the age of four. She made her solo debut with the Madison Symphony Orchestra at twelve and has performed publicly since childhood. A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with Dr. Thomas Lymenstull, she went on to earn both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from the Mannes School of Music at The New School, studying under Pavlina Dokovska on a full-tuition merit scholarship.

Ariela is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Steinway Award, Joseph Fidelman Memorial Award, Presser Scholar Award for musical and academic excellence, Marina Bondarenko Memorial Prize at the Tel-Hai Festival in Israel, and the Prix du Directeur at the Fontainebleau School in France. In 2025, she was named a winner of the Pro Musicis International Award and will make her recital debut at Salle Cortot during the 2026–27 season. She is also a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholar (2024–25) and a Resident Artist at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, where she is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot with Suzana Bartal.

Ariela has performed widely across Europe, Asia, and the United States, appearing in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Stern Auditorium, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Gilmore International Piano Festival, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Festival. Her performances have been featured on NPR’s From the Top, WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, Detroit Public Radio, Interlochen Public Radio, and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Specializing in repertoire written between the early twentieth century and today, Ariela creates programs that form poetic and narrative links between works and eras. An active collaborator and educator, she has served on the accompaniment and teaching faculties of several New York music schools, where she is committed to sharing music with students of all generations and backgrounds. She is also music director and pianist for Lavender Songs, a stage production created and performed by Jeremy Lawrence, recently featured in Carnegie Hall’s Celebration of Weimar.

Her artistry is guided by a belief that music should transcend barriers—a philosophy reflected in her ongoing collaborations with composers and her dedication to performing works by underrepresented and living artists. Outside of music, Ariela enjoys reading, writing, and hiking.