Kirill Gerstein

Originally trained in jazz, pianist Kirill Gerstein has built a distinctive career spanning Russia, Europe and the United States. Born in 1979 in Voronezh, he studied as a teenager at the Berklee College of Music in Boston before turning to classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music, where he worked notably with Solomon Mikowsky, and he subsequently continued his studies in Madrid and Budapest. Now Russian–American, Gerstein established himself on the international stage in the early 2000s; receiving the Gilmore Artist Award in 2010 marked an important milestone. His repertoire covers a wide range from Bach to contemporary works, with particular focus on late Romanticism, the early twentieth century and recent creations, supported by long‑standing collaborations with composers such as Thomas Adès. He records for the Myrios Classics label: his first solo album appeared in 2010 featuring Rachmaninov, Liszt and Tchaikovsky, and in 2014 he released a disc of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in its 1879 version and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Deutsches Symphonie‑Orchester Berlin. Active on major concert stages, Kirill Gerstein divides his work between recitals, orchestral concerts, chamber music projects and higher‑education teaching in Europe and North America.