Dominic Cheli's playing has been described as "spontaneous yet perfect, the best of how a young person can play." (Symphony Magazine). His rapidly advancing career included his Walt Disney Concert Hall Debut with legendary conductor Valery Gergiev where Dominic was described as "mesmerizing, (he) transfixed the audience…his fingers were one with each key." (LA Times). He gave his Carnegie Hall Recital Debut this past season, and recently recorded his second CD on the Naxos label of the music of Liszt/Schubert. In July 2017, Cheli's first CD, featuring the music of Muzio Clementi and released by Naxos, was hailed as "definitive performances, that match splendid playing with an appreciation of Clementi's diverse, classically based style." Also in 2017, Dominic was named 1st prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City.
Winner of the 2017 Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, Dominic performed Prokofiev's 2nd Piano concerto with conductor, composer and MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient, Matthew Aucoin. Described as a "barnstorming Goliath" Mr. Cheli's performance of Prokofiev's 2nd concerto "roared like a locomotive, shot firebrands of energy this way and that, while the piano strained to keep in one piece under the thrall of Cheli's glorious technique." (Santa Barbara Voice Magazine).
A native of St. Louis, Dominic has performed with the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis, as well as orchestras all across the country and abroad including the San Diego Symphony, DuPage Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Colburn Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Adrian Symphony, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (Germany), and the Great Falls Symphony. He has worked with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Yaniv Dinur, Markus Huber, Rossen Milanov, Arthur Fagen, Bruce Kiesling, Matthew Aucoin, and many others. Dominic recently debuted at several major festivals across the United States including the Ravinia Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Virginia Arts Festival. Upcoming engagements included appearances with the Seattle Symphony, a re-invitation to the Ravinia Festival, his debut at Alice Tully Hall, and recitals in Philadelphia, Washington D.C, and New York City.
Committed to engaging with his surrounding community, Dominic regularly performs at high schools, retirement homes, and gives both masterclasses and lectures for his younger audiences. Upon invitation, he has performed with Paul Coletti at ViolaFest in Los Angeles for younger students, and "Baby Got Bach" with Pianist Orli Shaham at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. Dominic has performed as an artist for Project: Music Heals Us,a non-profit organization that presents interactive classical music performances to diverse audiences in order to provide encouragement, education, and healing with a focus on elderly, disabled, rehabilitating, incarcerated, and homeless populations.
In 2018, Dominic was invited by his mentor, Andre-Michel Schub, to perform at the Virginia Arts Festival, both as a soloist and collaborator, in concerts centered around the music of Mozart. They collaborated in Mozart's Double and Triple Piano Concertos with the Virginia Symphony, as well as in recital where "Cheli delivered one brilliant performance…it was a dazzling moment by a pianist whose name is destined for Schub-ian heights." (Virginia Gazette) Mr. Cheli has studied at the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University and the Colburn School. Andre-Michel Schub, Peter Frankl, Fabio Bidini, Zena Ilyashov, and Sylvia Rosenberg are individuals who have been especially influential on his development as an artist.
