Kirill Gerstein
(2010, United States)

Russian-born pianist Kirill Gerstein is one of today’s most intriguing young musicians, praised for his masterful technique, musical curiosity, and probing interpretations. From his early studies in jazz to performing at the classical music world’s most prestigious venues, he is “on the fast track to a major career, and he deserves to be,” noted The Boston Globe.

In January 2010, Mr. Gerstein was announced as the sixth recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award, made every four years to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, has the potential to sustain a major career as an international concert artist. Mr. Gerstein was also the recipient of a Gilmore Young Artist Award in 2002.

Dim lights

Born in Voronezh, in southwestern Russia, Mr. Gerstein studied piano at a special music school for gifted children and taught himself to play jazz by listening to his parents’ extensive record collection. He came to the U.S. at 14 to continue his studies in jazz piano as the youngest student ever to attend Boston’s Berklee College of Music. During his years at Berklee he continued to study the classical piano repertoire and following two summers at the Boston University Young Artist program at Tanglewood, Mr. Gerstein decided to focus on classical music and moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music. There he studied with Solomon Mikowsky and earned both his Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees by the age of 20. Mr. Gerstein continued his studies in Madrid with Dmitri Bashkirov and in Budapest with Ferenc Rados. An American citizen since 2003, Mr. Gerstein now divides his time between the United States and Germany, where he has been a professor of piano at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart since 2006. Mr. Gerstein’s previous awards include first prize at the 2001 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Tel Aviv and he was chosen as Carnegie Hall’s “Rising Star” for the 2005-06 season.

At 30 years old, Mr. Gerstein has already performed with esteemed orchestras and conductors, and in recital throughout the world. In North America, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and the Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Oregon, San Francisco, Utah and Vancouver symphonies, among others. At summer festivals he has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Mann Music Center and at the Saratoga Festival; the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Festival; at Chicago’s Grant Park Festival; and has given recitals in Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, New York, Portland (OR), Vancouver, and at Washington’s Kennedy Center.

Mr. Gerstein has worked with such prominent European orchestras as the Munich, Rotterdam, and Royal Philharmonics, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Zurich’s Tonhalle, the Finnish and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He has also appeared in recital in Paris, Prague, Hamburg, London’s Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, and the Liszt Academy in Budapest. He made his Salzburg Festival debut playing solo and two-piano works with András Schiff in 2008. In 2009 he performed at the Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Delft, and Lucerne Festivals, returned to Caracas to work with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolívar Youth Orchestra, and appeared with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his recital and concerto appearances at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan in May 2010, highlights of his upcoming North American engagements include debuts with the Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis symphonies, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall, and return performances with the Baltimore, Houston and San Francisco symphonies. In January 2010 Mr. Gerstein will tour with cellist Steven Isserlis, with performances at the Kennedy Center and in San Francisco. He will also make his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in summer of 2010. Internationally he will perform with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain, tour Switzerland with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, and perform with Hanover’s NDR Orchestra in Austria and Italy.