Kirill Gerstein

Pianist Kirill Gerstein’s playing is distinguished by its technique and intelligence, matched with an energetic musical presence that places him at the top of the profession. In the 2023-24 season, Gerstein was featured as a Spotlight Artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, performing concertos by Thomas Adès, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Gershwin. In recital, Gerstein and Christian Tetzlaff performed the Suite from The Tempest for violin and piano, written for them by Thomas Adès, with premieres in New York, Washington, and Boston. A firm believer in the importance of teaching, Kirill Gerstein is currently professor of piano at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Hochschule and on the faculty of Kronberg Academy. Under the auspices of Kronberg Academy, his series of free and open online seminars entitled Kirill Gerstein invites is now in its fifth season. Featuring conversations with leading artistic minds, guest speakers have included Ai Weiwei, Brad Mehldau, Thomas Adès, and Alex Ross. Gerstein has also coached students at the Verbier Festival Academy, Aix-en-Provence Chamber Music Academy, and Prussia Cove. His April 2024 release on the Platoon label pairs music by Debussy with that of Armenian priest, musicologist, and composer Komitas and features collaborations with Thomas Adès, Ruzan Mantashyan, and Katia Skanavi. Deutsche Grammophon’s 2020 release of Gerstein’s world première of Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with the Boston Symphony Orchestra won a 2020 Gramophone Award and was nominated for three Grammy Awards. Born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, Gerstein attended one of the country’s special music schools for gifted children and taught himself to play jazz at home by listening to his parents’ record collection. At 14, he was invited to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied jazz piano in tandem with his classical piano studies. At the age of 16, Gerstein decided to focus on classical music, completing his undergraduate and graduate degrees with Solomon Mikowsky at New York’s Manhattan School of Music, followed by further studies with Dmitri Bashkirov and Ferenc Rados. Gerstein is the sixth recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award, a First Prize winner at the 10th Arthur Rubinstein Competition, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant holder.