was born in Outokumpu, Finland. At the age of 13, he became a pupil of Irina Zahharenkova, a noted winner of several international piano competitions. He has been studying at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Dr. Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna and Teppo Koivisto. In addition, he has attended master classes of Klaus Hellwig, Jerome Lowenthal, Robert Levin, and Matti Raekallio. Currently, Aleksei is pursuing his studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Marianna Shirinyan’s class.

Aleksei Zaitsev has participated successfully in Finnish national and international piano  competitions: Kuopio Piano Competition for young pianists (2nd prize, 2011), the Stecher and  Horowitz foundation’s 7th International New York Piano Competition (finalist, 2014) and Helmi  Vesa piano competition in Helsinki (prize winner 2015 and 2019). In the fall of 2021 Aleksei was  one of the finalists in Tampere piano competition and received a special prize for the best  interpretation of a piece by A. Scriabin. In the fall of 2022 Aleksei was the only Finnish pianist who  reached the semi-finals of the Maj Lind International Piano Competition in Helsinki and received  outstanding reviews by the Helsingin Sanomat and YLE broadcasting company. 

Aleksei is a versatile pianist whose range of repertoire covers music from the early Baroque era to  the newest contemporary music. As a recitalist, orchestral soloist and chamber musician, he has  performed in many cities in Finland, France, Italy, Belgium, the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, the  USA and Japan. He has also given concerts at Turku Music Festival 2019, Mänttä piano festival,  Kaivos Festival and UNM Contemporary Music Festival. Zaitsev is a keen interpreter of new music;  he has performed alongside with Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, defunensemble and ÄÄNI  KOLLEKTIIVI Contemporary Music Ensemble. 

Zaitsev has been awarded scholarships and grants for outstanding achievements by different  Finnish cultural foundations: Pro Musica Foundation, Martin Wegelius Foundation, to name a few.  Most recently he was awarded as the Yamaha Music Foundation’s scholarship winner 2020.