Anna Maria McElwain is the only Finn in Finland to achieve a Master of Music degree in clavichord performance from the Sibelius Academy. She studied the clavichord and fortepiano with Dr Pekka Vapaavuori, and has a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance. 

Anna Maria taught at the Sibelius Academy Kuopio department until 2010 and currently focuses mainly on giving clavichord concerts. She has performed on the clavichord in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy. Anna Maria’s repertoire consists of music from Renaissance to early Romantic period. She has explored the limits of the clavichord with the Beethoven Sonatas and has played Chopin on the clavichord mainly as a curiosity, which resulted in a study on the topic, “The Clavichordist’s View on the Chopin Preludes”.

For ten years she hosted the Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival in Kuopio, featuring clavichord players from all over the world. 

In 2021 she was the first recipient of the international clavichord award The Joan Benson Award, as recognition of her work promoting the clavichord, and in 2018 she was announced Woman of the Year in her hometown Kuopio.