Michael Tsalka is currently serving as an Assistant Professor at the School of Music, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. He is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), Salzburg, Austria; the Chairman of the Board (and faculty) 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 (2024, NCMA, New Zealand).

As a 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 early Baroque era to our days. He 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 an M.M. 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.

Dr. Tsalka maintains a busy concert schedule, performing circa 110 concerts a year worldwide. Recent engagements included the Hall of Central Harmony in Beijing Forbidden City, Bellas Artes Theater in Mexico City, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, St. Denis Festival in Paris, Shenzhen Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Beethoven House in Bonn, Tokyo's City Opera, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Volksbühne in Berlin, Daning Theatre in Shanghai, the Jerusalem Music Centre, Kazan Conservatory of Music (Russia), Museo de la Música (Barcelona), the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the ElbPhilharmonie in Hamburg, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, plus live performances for radio/television stations around the globe (Sydney, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Helsinki, Auckland, Brussels, Geneva, Canberra, London and Hong Kong, China).

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, eight of his scholarly articles have been published by music journals, in Italy, the U.S.A., and the Netherlands.

He has recorded 32 critically acclaimed CDs, with repertoire from the Baroque period to the Contemporary Era (including many world premiere recordings) for NAXOS, Grand Piano, Paladino, Brilliant Classics, IMI, Sheva Collection, Wirripang, and Ljud & Bild. He has performed as a soloist with many orchestras, among them Sydney Consort and ThoroughBass (Australia), Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham University Chamber Orchestra (U.K.), Temple University Chamber Orchestra (Philadelphia), Krasnoyarsk Chamber Orchestra (Russia), Guatemala Symphony Orchestra, Silvestre Revueltas Chamber Orchestra (Guanajuato, Mexico), St. Louis' City Orchestra, Hermitage Festival Orchestra (St. Petersburg), Baroque Camerata (Taiwan, China), Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. 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, or J. Brahms's Cello and Piano Sonatas.

Circa 75 contemporary compositions (which he premiered) were dedicated to him by composers from all over the world. Pamela Hickman described his CD of the Seven Viktor Ullmann's Piano Sonatas on Concert Critique Blog, "Tsalka's articulate and sensitive reading gives each sonata palpable musical life, the works coming across as 'contemporary' and as relevant to current musical thought today as when they were written. This is a great and lasting strength of Viktor Ullmann's writing. Michael Tsalka finds a fine balance between his understanding of the background and circumstances of each sonata and his objective playing of some of the finest piano music composed in the first half of the 20th century."

Dr. Tsalka has directed multiple festivals in China, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Finland. From 2002-2008, he taught at the Esther Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia. From 2009-2014, he taught at the Escuela Superior de Música, National Center for the Arts in Mexico City, and at Lilla Akademien, Stockholm. He has been an artist in residence at the NCMA in New Zealand (2018, 2020), and has presented over 155 master classes in academic institutions in all continents. Dr. Tsalka's students have been accepted to prestigious institutions worldwide, often with complete grants and awards—such as Eastman School of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Jacobs School of Music, Royal Conservatoire The Hague, Peabody School of Music, RNCM (U.K.), and have recently won first prizes at International Piano Competitions. A few examples are the Vivace International Paris Piano Competition, the Bavaria Internationaler Wettbewerb für Junge Pianisten, the Chopin Youth Piano Competition, and the Macao Piano Competition.