Kirill Gerstein
Encyclopedia
Kirill Gerstein (born 1979, Voronezh
, Soviet Union
) is an American and Russian pianist. He was the First Prize winner at the 2001 Arthur Rubinstein
Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. He was chosen to receive a 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and was selected as Carnegie Hall
's "Rising Star" for the 2005–2006 season. He became an American citizen in 2003 and is currently a professor of piano at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart. He is the 2010 recipient of the $300,000 Gilmore Artist Award
.
He then attended the Manhattan School of Music with Solomon Mikowsky and earned both his Bachelor and Masters of Music degrees by the age of 20. His studies later took him to Madrid
with the piano pedagogue Dmitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martínez Mehner
at the Queen Sofía College of Music. He also was one of only six pianists selected to study in 2003 and 2004 at the International Piano Academy Lake Como
.
and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra in September 2000. He was immediately re-engaged the following season. He also toured Germany
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
led by Charles Dutoit
and appeared in the London BBC Proms with cellist Steven Isserlis
.
Gerstein made his Ravinia Festival concerto debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
and Christoph Eschenbach
in 2002. He also appeared in recital at the 2002 Gilmore Piano Festival, on Ravinia's Rising Star Series and in the Boston Conservatory
's Piano Masters Series.
On 17 and 18 March 2006, Gerstein stepped in for Boris Berezovsky
as the soloist in Rachmaninoff
's Piano Concerto No. 3
in D minor, Op. 30 with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
when Berezovsky withdrew from the two concerts in Hong Kong due to illness. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut on 12 July 2008, again with Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3.
In January 2010, Mr. Gerstein was announced as the sixth recipient of the $300,000 Gilmore Artist Award. Previous winners of this prestigious award include Leif Ove Andsnes
from Norway, Piotr Anderszewski
from Poland and Ingrid Fliter
from Argentina.
, Beethoven
, Scriabin
and Gershwin
arranged by Earl Wild
was released in 2004 on the Oehms Classics label.
Voronezh
Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) is an American and Russian pianist. He was the First Prize winner at the 2001 Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. He was chosen to receive a 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and was selected as Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
's "Rising Star" for the 2005–2006 season. He became an American citizen in 2003 and is currently a professor of piano at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart. He is the 2010 recipient of the $300,000 Gilmore Artist Award
Gilmore Artist Award
The Gilmore Artist Award is awarded every four years to an international pianist. The award was established in 1989 by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation of Kalamazoo, Michigan. In contrast with other music awards, nominees are not aware that they are under consideration, but are assessed discreetly...
.
History
Kirill Gerstein was born in 1979 in Voronezh. At the age of 11, he won his first competition - the International Bach Competition in Gorzów, Poland. He attended Berklee's summer program in 1993 and was invited to attend the college on full scholarship the following summer, becoming the youngest college student in the school's history at the age of 14.He then attended the Manhattan School of Music with Solomon Mikowsky and earned both his Bachelor and Masters of Music degrees by the age of 20. His studies later took him to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
with the piano pedagogue Dmitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martínez Mehner
Claudio Martínez Mehner
Claudio Martínez Mehner is a Spanish piano soloist and pedagogue.-Biography:Martinez Mahner studied at Madrid Conservatory, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Peabody Institute, the Moscow Conservatory, the International Piano Foundation "Theo Lieven" and the Hochschule für...
at the Queen Sofía College of Music. He also was one of only six pianists selected to study in 2003 and 2004 at the International Piano Academy Lake Como
International Piano Academy Lake Como
The International Piano Academy Lake Como is a music school. Seven pianists, chosen annually from a worldwide field of 400 applicants including many international prizewinners, have the opportunity of studying with a faculty whose core membership past and present includes such stellar artists as...
.
Performances
Kirill Gerstein made his major orchestral debut with David ZinmanDavid Zinman
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra in September 2000. He was immediately re-engaged the following season. He also toured Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
led by Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
and appeared in the London BBC Proms with cellist Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis CBE is a British cellist. He is distinguished for his diverse repertoire, distinctive sound and total command of phrasing. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was much influenced by the great iconoclast of Russian cello playing, Daniil Shafran...
.
Gerstein made his Ravinia Festival concerto debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
and Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
in 2002. He also appeared in recital at the 2002 Gilmore Piano Festival, on Ravinia's Rising Star Series and in the Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory
The Boston Conservatory is a performing arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance and musical theater...
's Piano Masters Series.
On 17 and 18 March 2006, Gerstein stepped in for Boris Berezovsky
Boris Berezovsky (pianist)
- Biography :Berezovsky studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Eliso Virsaladze and privately with Alexander Satz. Following his London début at the Wigmore Hall in 1988, The Times described him as "an artist of exceptional promise, a player of dazzling virtuosity and formidable power."In May 2005...
as the soloist in Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
's Piano Concerto No. 3
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, composed in 1909 by Sergei Rachmaninoff is famous for its technical and musical demands on the performer...
in D minor, Op. 30 with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra , is the largest symphony orchestra in Hong Kong. First established in 1895 as an amateur orchestra, under the name Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957, and became a professional orchestra in 1974 under the funding...
when Berezovsky withdrew from the two concerts in Hong Kong due to illness. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut on 12 July 2008, again with Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3.
In January 2010, Mr. Gerstein was announced as the sixth recipient of the $300,000 Gilmore Artist Award. Previous winners of this prestigious award include Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes is a Norwegian pianist and an ardent champion of the works of Edvard Grieg.-Biography:He studied with Jiří Hlinka at the Bergen Music Conservatory and made his debut in Oslo in 1987, in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival with the Oslo Philharmonic in 1989, and in the United States...
from Norway, Piotr Anderszewski
Piotr Anderszewski
Piotr Anderszewski is a Polish-Hungarian pianist.- Biography :Anderszewski was born in Warsaw, Poland. He attended conservatories in Lyon and Strasbourg, the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, and the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.- Career...
from Poland and Ingrid Fliter
Ingrid Fliter
Ingrid Fliter is an Argentinian pianist. She began her formal piano studies with Elizabeth Westerkamp. Her first public appearance in recital was at age 11, and she made her concerto debut at the Teatro Colón at age 16....
from Argentina.
Recordings
His debut recital recording of works by BachJohann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
and Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
arranged by Earl Wild
Earl Wild
Royland Earl Wild was an American pianist widely recognized as a leading virtuoso of his generation. Harold C. Schonberg called him a "super-virtuoso in the Horowitz class". He was known as well for his transcriptions of classical music and jazz...
was released in 2004 on the Oehms Classics label.