Daria Tennikova
Credentials: Daria’s current artistic focus is to emphasize the opposing sides of human nature.
Position title: she/her
Email: tennikova@wisc.edu

Daria Tennikova is an American musical artist of Russian descent. Most of her recent compositions have been created in response to the war in Ukraine and the political situation in the world. Daria’s current artistic focus is to emphasize the opposing sides of human nature. Her music reflects and expresses suffering, violence and inhumanity as it contrasts with the innocence, kindness and empathy. She is currently a dissertator at UW-Madison School of Music with a Major in Composition and Minor in Piano Performance.
In addition to her studies, Daria is a TA at Mead Witter School of Music in Music Theory and Musicology. Daria has received the TA Fellow Mentor Award for L&S Teaching Mentors Program in 2024 and 2025. As a passionate teacher, Daria holds appointments as a piano and composition instructor at Farley’s House of Pianos and with the UW-Madison Community Music Lessons Program, as well as maintaining a private studio for local students and online students from around the world. Daria continues her global impact as an educator through her youtube channel, where she creates instructional and inspirational videos to help others learn piano and music in an accessible way.
Daria holds a four-year professional degree from Mussorgsky Music College in St. Petersburg, (Russia) in Collaborative Performance and Piano Pedagogy, a B.M. in Composition from UW-Madison, a M.M. in Composition from Rice University.