BIOGRAPHY
Kirill Gerstein’s musical curiosity and versatility has led to an intense engagement with a wide range of repertoire and styles. From Bach to Adès his playing is distinguished by a clarity of expression and honesty of interpretation which, combined with a discerning intelligence and virtuosity, have taken him rapidly to highest level of classical music. Based both in Europe and in the US, Kirill Gerstein appears world-wide in performances ranging from concerts with the Cleveland and Boston Orchestras as well as the Vienna Philharmonic and Gewandhaus Orchester to recitals in London, Paris and New York. Gerstein is the sixth recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, presented every four years to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, possesses broad and profound musicianship and charisma, and who performs internationally at the highest level. The prize enabled Gerstein to commission new works by Oliver Knussen, Chick Corea, Alexander Gohr, Brad Mehldau and Timothy Andres. Gerstein's first recital disc on the myrios classics label featured works by Schumann, Liszt and Oliver Knussen and was named one of the best recordings of 2010 by the New York Times and one of the best Schumann recordings – in the year of the composer’s bicentenary - by NPR Music. In collaboration with Tabea Zimmermann he has since made two recordings of sonatas for viola and piano for myrios classics, which include works by Brahms and Schubert, as well as César Franck, Rebecca Clarke and Henri Vieuxtemps. The second of the two discs was awarded the “Diapason d’Or de l’année 2013”. His most recent solo disc, “Imaginary Pictures” with works of Mussorgsky and Schumann, has been selected by the New York Times as one of the best recordings of 2014. Born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, Kirill Gerstein attended one of the country's special music schools for gifted children and taught himself to play jazz by listening to his parents’ record collection. Following a chance encounter with jazz legend Gary Burton in St. Petersburg when he was 14, he was invited to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied jazz piano but also continued his classical piano studies. At the age of 16, he decided to focus on classical music and moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Solomon Mikowsky. He continued his studies with Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid and Ferenc Rados in Budapest.
Visit Kirill Gerstein's website: www.kirillgerstein.com
ALBUMS on myrios
