Alexander Jurak

Alexander Jurak began his piano studies at the age 4 with Robert Apostle. From 2016 to 2021 he attended the Pre-College Program at the Manhattan School of Music as a Piano Major, studying consecutively with Yegor Shevtsov, Brandt Fredriksen, and Maria Asteriadou, and graduating from the program with Honors in 2022. Additionally, from 2018 to 2020, he was a private composition student of 12-time Grammy winning composer/arranger and producer Thomas Z. Shepard. Alexander currently attends the Manhattan School of Music as a Piano Major, studying with William Wolfram.
In 2019 Alex was selected as a participant in the inaugural year of the Crane International Piano Festival, as well as a Merit Scholar at the Kutztown University Summer Chamber Festival; that same year he was a featured performer at the Half Hollow Hills School District NYSSMA Honors Piano Recital. In 2020 he won 1st place in the Elite International Music Competition at Weil Recital Hall, and placed 3rd in the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Philharmonic Level Piano Competition. In 2021, as the winner of the Kutztown University Inspiring Youth Competition, he performed Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto in G Minor with the Kutztown Symphony Orchestra, and in 2022 he won 1st place in the Triumph Music Festival’s Rachmaninoff Piano Competition. In 2023, Alex made his debut public performance as Featured Artist with The Winter Harbor Music Festival Concert Series, and also attended the Colorado College Summer Music Festival on full scholarship. Most recently, Alexander was selected as one of four finalists in the 2025 Manhattan School of Music's Eisenberg-Fried Piano Concerto Competition.