Aleksei Zaitsev (b. 1995) from North Karelia is one of the most promising young pianists in Finland. His most important teachers have been Irina Zahharenkova, Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna and Teppo Koivisto at the Sibelius Academy, under whose guidance he graduated with a Master of Music degree at the end of 2022. Alexei has received further tuition from masterclasses by Klaus Hellwig, Jerome Lowenthal, Matti Raekallio and Robert Levin, among others. In summer 2024, Zaitsev also graduated with a Master of Music degree from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen under the guidance of Marianna Shirinyan.
Zaitsev has successfully participated in several national and international piano competitions: the Kuopio Piano Competition (2nd place, 2011), the 7th New York International Piano Competition (finalist 2014) and the Helmi Vesa Piano Competition (2019). In spring 2020, Alexei was awarded the Yamaha Music Foundation Scholarship. In the fall of 2021, Zaitsev reached the finals of the Tampere Piano Competition and received a special prize for the best interpretation of Alexander Scriabin's work. In October 2022, Alexei was the only Finn to reach the semi-finals of the International Maj Lind Piano Competition, receiving glowing reviews for his opening and semi-final performances. Helsingin Sanomat and Yle, among others, wrote of Alexei's playing: ”Zaitsev's playing is captivating. It's intense musicianship and the level of skill is staggering ... There's a certain balance of emotion and intelligence that always comes to mind from his playing.”
In May 2023, Zaitsev reached the finals of the Vigo International Piano Competition in Spain, where he was awarded an honorary prize. In the DKDM soloist competition Alexei won the first prize and in June he performed as soloist with the DKDM Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, performing R. Strauss's Burleske for piano and orchestra.
Alexei has performed as an orchestral soloist, chamber musician and soloist in Finland, Europe, Japan and the USA. Over the past year, Aleksei has collaborated and performed at various festivals with Marianna Shirinyan, Klaus Mäkelä, Daniel Rowland, Maja Bogdanovic and Maxim Vengerov. In the fall of 2023, at the invitation of Olli Mustonen, Zaitsev performed four-handed with Mustonen at the Klassiske Dage festival in Denmark.
Zaitsev has performed at Musica Nova Festival 2025, Fejøs Festival 2024, Piano Espoo Festival 2023, Stavanger International Piano Festival 2023 and 2024, Turku Music Festival 2019 and Mänttä Music Festival 2014, among others. Zaitsev also enjoys contemporary music and has performed with the Uusinta Ensemble, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, defunensemble and the ÄÄNI-kollektiivi. Zaitsev is also particularly interested in combining music with other art forms, and this has been evident at the Outokumpu Kaivos Festival, where he has collaborated with contemporary dancers.
English 
Finnish