Elham Fanoos

24-year old Elham Fanous is one of the leading pianists of his home country and of his generation. His life’s work is to embody a positive face of his nation’s future and to provide hope to musicians and artists living under threats to their creative expression all around the world.

Elham has performed as a soloist at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2013. He performed at the Library of Congress for the 2017 Anne Frank Awards Ceremony. He has also played for members of the diplomatic corps of Australia, China, Germany, Italy, and Korea. He has performed international dignitaries in Washington DC through the Embassy Series: Uniting People Through Music Diplomacy.

His outreach performances in New York include solo recitals for the West Point Academy in the class of 2004 memorial service, NYU Forum on Law, Culture and Society, the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, and Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.

Elham has been awarded full scholarships to participate in notable summer festivals including Classical Bridge (performances at Steinway Hall and Merkin Concert Hall), the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Hunter College, the Chopin to Gorècki piano festival in Poland, and others.

He was the 3rd prize winner in the Golden Key International Piano Competition in Frankfurt in 2012 and the winner of Hunter College Concerto Competition. He has also performed as a solo recitalist in Holland, Italy, and Poland.

Elham has been profiled on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition by host Renee Montagne, in BBC, on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, and in the media in Britain, India and Pakistan. He is a recipient of Young Musical Scholars Foundation and Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Fund. He is the subject of a German television documentary (ZDF tivi).

Prior to his arrival at Manhattan School of music in 2019, Elham trained at Hunter College), studying piano performance, composition, and music theory as well as a full range of academic subjects. Elham also studied at the Franz Liszt Conservatory of Music in Weimar, Germany.

Elham recently completed his Master’s degree in piano performance at Manhattan School of music under instruction of Philip Kawin. Despite growing up in a city where he and his family were threatened and his music school was regularly attacked, he has held fast to his dream of a career as a concert pianist and has excelled in the U.S. He is currently planning to begin his DMA studies in the U.S. in 2022. Elham first participated in an American Voices program in 2010.