Profile.

Full Name: Maisie Grayi Russell. Place and Date of Birth: England, 21 July 1997. Nationality: British. Languages: English (native), Mandarin, Indonesian.

Education & Training.

• Artist Diploma, Advanced Performance Studies Royal College of Music, London.
• Master of Music, Piano Interpretation Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin.
• Bachelor of Music, Piano Performance The Juilliard School, New York.

Additional Training & Residencies.

• Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Residency, New York.
• Verbier Festival Academy, Switzerland – masterclasses with leading pianists.
• Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship, Boston.

Maisie’s Background.

Maisie Grayi Russell was raised in a family that deeply values cultural diversity. From an early age, she was accustomed to hearing conversations in multiple languages—English, Mandarin, and Indonesian. While she completed her primary and secondary education in England, her family made annual visits to Indonesia every summer to celebrate Chinese New Year with her mother’s extended family. These cross-cultural experiences shaped Maisie into an open-minded, intelligent, and intuitive individual. Her musical talent emerged at a young age. At five, Maisie began private piano lessons with her mother, a classical music teacher. She made remarkable progress, and by the age of eight, she won first place in a local children's piano competition. Her exceptional ability led to her acceptance into the Conservatoire de Paris Junior Program at the age of ten, a prestigious program designed for gifted young musicians from around the world.

Maisie pursued her formal education at the Juilliard School, New York, where she obtained a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, concentrating on solo piano repertoire. During her studies, she won first prize in the Juilliard Concerto Competition and made her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 21—a milestone that marked the beginning of her professional international career.

Following her undergraduate degree, Maisie continued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, earning a Master of Music with a focus on Romantic repertoire and modern interpretation. Her thesis, “The Emotional Architecture of Chopin’s Late Works,” received widespread acclaim for its deep analytical and emotional insight.

She later earned an Artist Diploma in Advanced Performance Studies from the Royal College of Music, London, under the mentorship of the renowned maestro Sir András Schiff. During this period, Maisie toured across Europe as a solo pianist in the prestigious Young Masters Series, further cementing her reputation in the international classical music scene.

Maisie has also actively participated in additional training and artist residencies that broadened her musical perspective. She received a summer fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center in Boston and took part in intensive masterclasses at the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland, learning directly from some of the world’s leading pianists. One of the pivotal moments in her development was her selection for the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Residency in New York.

Parental Background.

Father.