Dr. Michael Tsalka (Netherlands/Israel) is currently serving as Assistant Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Music of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. As a concert pianist and early keyboard performer, he has won numerous prizes in Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America. He is a versatile musician, who performs repertoire from the late Renaissance to our days. He has released over forty critically-acclaimed CDs, which include many world-premiere recordings, for labels such as NAXOS, Grand Piano, Paladino, Brilliant Classics, IMI, Sheva Collection, Wirripang, Tempus Clasico, and Ljud & Bild. Together with musicologist Dr. Angélica Minero Escobar, he has prepared a critical edition of Daniel Gottlob Türk's 30 keyboard sonatas for Artaria Editions in New Zealand. Additionally, his scholarly articles have been published in music journals in Italy, the U.S.A., and the Netherlands. Many excellent composers have dedicated works to him, among them Violeta Dinescu, Joan Josep Gutiérrez Yzquierdo, Sergey Yevtushenko, Max Yount, Nicholas Smith and Leonardo Coral.

Prof. Tsalka maintains a busy concert schedule, performing circa ninety concerts a year. Recent engagements include the Hall of Central Harmony (Beijing, Forbidden City), Bellas Artes Theater (Mexico City), the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), the Metropolitan Museum (New York), St. Denis Festival (Paris), Shenzhen Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Beethoven House (Bonn), City Opera (Tokyo), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Volksbühne (Berlin), Daning Theatre (Shanghai), the Jerusalem Music Centre, Kazan Conservatory of Music, Museo de la Música (Barcelona), the Mozarteum (Salzburg), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the ElbPhilharmonie (Hamburg), Shanghai Concert Hall, and Xingha Concert Hall (Guangzhou), plus live performances for radio and
television stations around the globe. He has performed as soloist with many orchestras, recently with the Sydney Consort and Thorough Bass (Australia), Musica Florea (Prague, Czech Republic), Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham University Chamber Orchestra (U.K.) and the Krasnoyarsk Chamber Orchestra (Russia).

Dr. Tsalka was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. After studying in Israel, Germany, and Italy, he graduated in 2008 from Temple University (U.S.A) with a D.M.A. in Piano Performance and two Master's degrees in Early Keyboard Performance and Chamber Music. His mentors included Lambert Orkis, Joyce Lindorff, and Harvey Wedeen, as well as Dario di Rosa, Klaus Schilde, Malcolm Bilson, David Shemer, Sandra Mangsen, and Charles Rosen.

From 2009-2014, he was a professor of harpsichord and chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Música, National Center for the Arts in Mexico City, and at Lilla Akademien, Stockholm. Apart from his current professorship at CUHK, Shenzhen, he is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), Salzburg, Austria, the Chairman of the Board of the European Fortepiano Museum and Academy (EFM) in Germany, a visiting Professor at Celaya Conservatory of Music in Guanajuato, Mexico, and an Artist-in-Residence at the Nelson Center of Musical Arts (NCMA, New Zealand).

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2025 highlights include performances at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna); the modern world premiere performance of Vanhal’s Clavier Concerto in A Major alongside Musica Florea at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague; the world premiere performance of Nicholas Smith’s Allegro for Piano and a Wind Band in Chengdu, China; plus solo and chamber music performances at the Muenster Theater (Germany), the Tel-Aviv Museum, Fitzwilliam College (Cambridge), and the Divertimento International Music Festival (Mexico City); Dr. Tsalka also presented this year master classes and lecture-recitals at the I. J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan, Auckland University, the Schubert Society (Sydney), and Oldenburg University. He also released three CDs for the labels Paladino (Vienna), Wirripang (Australia) and Tempus Clásico (Mexico), plus recorded two new productions for Da Vinci Classics (Italy) and Rattle (New Zealand).

Dr. Tsalka has collaborated with musicians such as Lambert Orkis, Cynthia Roberts, Peter Sykes, Alon Sariel, Bridget Douglas, and Christopher Hogwood. His chamber music performances often include complete cycles, among them: J. S. Bach's Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord Sonatas, W. A. Mozart's Clavier and Violin Sonatas and the complete works for four hands, L. v. Beethoven's Clavier and Cello Sonatas, F. Schubert's Four Hands Clavier works and J. Brahms's Cello and Piano and Violin and Piano Sonatas.

Prof. Tsalka's students have been accepted to prestigious institutions worldwide, often with complete grants and awards, among them: the Eastman School of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Jacobs School of Music, Royal Conservatoire in the Hague, Peabody School of Music, and the Royal North Conservatory of Music. His students have recently won first prizes at international piano competitions, including the Vivace International Paris Piano Competition, the Bavaria Internationaler Wettbewerb für Junge Pianisten, the Chopin Youth Piano Competition, the Melbourne International Music Competition, and the Macao International Piano Competition. In 2025, he won the CUHK, SZ Ethics Teaching Award.