Khatia Buniatishvili appears in the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Ensemble Tour to Amsterdam, London and Eindhoven 2-6 May 2012.
Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili’s extraordinary talent was recognized when she was very young. Aged six, she gave her debut performance with an orchestra, and was subsequently invited to give performances in Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Russia, China, Israel and the USA. Khatia Buniatishvili prefers not to be regarded as a child prodigy: virtuosity for its own sake does not appeal to her. Above all, she embraces pianists from earlier generations such as Rachmaninoff, Richter and Gould. During her studies at Tbilisi’s State Conservatoire, she won a special prize at the Horowitz International Competition for Young Pianists in Kiev in 2003 as well as first prize at the Foundation to Assist Young Georgian Musicians competition set up by Elisabeth Leonskaya. She became acquainted with Oleg Maisenberg, who persuaded her to transfer to Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts. Winner of the Bronze Medal at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in 2008, she was also distinguished as the Best Performer of a Chopin piece and as Audience Favourite. Khatia Buniatishvili has given critically acclaimed solo recitals and chamber music concerts at such renowned venues as London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Musikverein in Vienna. In 2008 she made her US concert debut at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall), performing Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. A BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist 2009-2011, Khatia Buniatishvili regularly collaborates with BBC orchestras. In 2010 she received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and was nominated by Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus as a Rising Star for the 2011/2012 season. Upcoming engagements will see Khatia Buniatishvili perform with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra , the Orchestre de Paris and the Munich Philharmonic with Paavo Järvi. Recitals will also take her to Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris and London, with further appearances at Verbier and Lucern Festivals and the Schwetzinger Musiktage. Khatia Buniatishvili is fluent in five languages and lives in Paris.
Photograph taken by Esther Haase
Debut CD on Sony Classical of music by Franz Liszt
"It's unlikely that any other Liszt record in this centenary year will outdo this pianistic debut by Georgia's fiery young star. Her account of the great B minor Sonata has Olympian grandeur; her Mephisto Waltz No1 alternates between swooning delicacy and a furiously laser-like accuracy; La Lugubre Gondola has hieratic mystery. Magnificent."
Michael Church, The Independent 30 April 2011
"This debut disc looks like a safe ‘Best of Liszt’ selection but, thrillingly, is much more than that. Buniatishvili is a young artist with a huge temperament and technique that puts one in the mind of the young Martha Argerich..."
Jeremy Nicholas, Classic FM Magazine August 2011
BBT Project: Franz Liszt CD on Sony Classical
"The B minor Sonata is the centrepiece of Buniatishvili's programme, and she goes at it with real ferocity, ratcheting up the intensity within the first few dozen bars and hardly pausing for breath from then on... Her floating of the melody of the Liebestraum, and her elegant weaving through the mysterious harmonies of La Lugubre Gondola, though, show there is much more to her artistry than just full-frontal musical assaults."
Andrew Clements, The Guardian 2 June 2011
"...her Liebestraum in A Flat Major ripples with emotion, while the funereal La Lugubre Gondola possesses an austere melancholy in its drifting tonality."
Andy Gill, The Independent 20 May 2011
- Assistance with production of special EPK video for Sony
- Participation in BBT tour in 2012
- Contribution towards purchase of grand piano
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It was such a sublime moment of feeling trust from such respected people. Everybody knows the definition of the word “Professionalism” but everyone understands and develops it in a different way. And they let us be free and creative. Each time when I play in London, I know, in the hall there are three lovely people – Susan, Debra and David – who support and trust me and that’s very strong. Thank you so much...