Yllka Istrefi is a pianist from Kosovo currently living and performing in London, UK.

She has finished Masters Degree in Advanced Piano Performance at the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied with Vanessa Latarche. In addition she has studied at the Institute of Arts in Tirana, Albania; Faculty of Arts in Pristina, Kosovo, and was awarded the Performer’s Diploma from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Her teachers include Benjamin Kaplan, Katherina Wolpe.
She is a recipient of a scholarship by the Albanian Foundation of Scholarships in Macedonia, and of the Kathleen & Margery Eliot award.

She has appeared in numerous recitals, chamber music and concerto performances in Kosovo, England, Japan, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Israel and the USA.
Recently she has performed with Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra in Macedonia, Crowndale Orchestra and Helios Chamber Orchestra in London.

Her growing reputation as an exciting pianist has led to her being invited at many major festivals, and has already performed at Chelsea Schubert Festival in London; Mozart Piano Sonata Festival, London; Transcendent festival at the Royal College of Music in London; the Ohrid Summer Festival in Macedonia, and regularly performs at the Music Festival of the Nations by the Cultural Association Tempietto, in Rome, Italy.

In 2006 she has debuted in the USA giving a solo recital at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. which was broadcast live on the Internet.

She also performs regularly with her piano duo partner Masa Tayama. Since winning First Prize at the North London Piano Duo Competition in 2004, they are in constant demand and are renowned for their unique programming and thrilling presentations.

Her first CD is going to be released during this year in Japan on the Accustika label.

Her future performances include solo and piano duo recitals in the UK as well as the CD promotion concerts in Europe and Japan.