One of Australia’s foremost contemporary composers, Elena Kats-Chernin's vibrant and distinctive music across all genres has reached millions worldwide, featuring at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, 2003 Rugby World Cup and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, she has received numerous prizes including Helpmann, Limelight, Sounds Australian and Sydney Theatre Awards, the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award and the 2022 Australian Women in Music Award (AWMA) for ‘Artistic Excellence’.
Kats-Chernin writes for ballet, opera, theatre, television and the concert hall, with her music performed by all the major orchestras in Australia, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Brandenburg Orchestra and Australian World Orchestra; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerorchester Berlin, City of London Sinfonia, BBC Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony and Luxembourg Philharmonie, as well as the opera houses of Berlin (Komische Oper Berlin), Antwerp, Stuttgart, Graz and more, and in festivals across the world. Elena has collaborated with renowned artists such as Marin Alsop, Avi Avital, Michael Collins, Mahan Esfahani, Shobana Jeyasingh, Richard Tognetti, William Yang, Simone Young, and many more, with 2025 premieres in Australia, Luxembourg and Austria. 'Eliza Aria' from ballet Wild Swans (choreographer Meryl Tankard) was made famous by British bank Lloyds TSB, and was the highest-voted Australian work in the 2024 ABC Classic 100 of 'Feel Good' music, at no.17. Kats-Chernin’s 'Sarenka' double concerto premiered by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was nominated for 'Work of the Year' in the 2024 APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards; her opera ‘Whiteley’ on celebrated Australian artist Brett Whitely was nominated as ‘Best world premiere’ in the 2020 International Opera Awards, and her episodic opera for television, The Divorce, reached over a million viewers on ABC iView.
Most recently, Elena Kats-Chernin composed the music soundtrack to Oscar-winning director Adam Elliott's full-length claymation film "Memoir of a Snail", which won the top Cristal award for 'Best Feature Film' at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and was an official finalist in this year’s 97th Academy Awards, and the 82nd Annual Golden Globes. She also composes music for two new projects for the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2025, its 50th anniversary season, and plays at the piano in live concert performances of ‘Memoir of a Snail’. A notable pianist, Elena performs solo as well as four hands at the piano with internationally acclaimed pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska – including for Human Waves, with libretto by Cislowska, commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and extended with support from River City Voices - and in 2025, for William Yang’s widely praised new work, Milestone, premiering at Sydney Festival, Melbourne’s AsiaTOPA Festival, and Brisbane Festival.
Elena Kats-Chernin’s music is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes, appearing on labels such as Deutsche Grammophon (DG), Universal Music, ABC Classics, Move among others. Notable releases include ARIA no. 1 albums Butterflying and Unsent Love Letters (performed by Tamara-Anna Cislowska), the 'Elena Kats-Chernin Collection', a limited edition 10-disc box set featuring several large-scale works from the past 25 years, and several DG albums performed by world-renowned artists such as violinist Daniel Hope, pianist Lang Lang, and more.
