Kirill Gerstein bio
Pianist Kirill Gerstein’s curiosity and versatility have led to a powerful engagement with a wide range of repertoire and styles. From Bach to Thomas Adès, his playing is distinguished by its virtuosity, clarity of expression, and discerning intelligence. Mr. Gerstein’s energetic and imaginative musical personality have rapidly taken him to the top of his profession.
Mr. Gerstein performs across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. An important focus of the 2018–2019 season was the world premiere of Mr. Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, which was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and composed for Mr. Gerstein. This season, Mr. Gerstein and Mr. Adès present the work in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Cleveland with The Cleveland Orchestra and Alan Gilbert.
Additional highlights of the 2019–2020 season include returns to the Atlanta and Dallas symphony orchestras and the Houston and San Diego symphonies, as well as the launch of a two-year cycle of Rachmaninoff’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Minnesota Orchestra. To mark Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, Mr. Gerstein opens Chicago’s Symphony Center Presents Piano series, which surveys the complete piano sonatas, and performs all five piano concertos with the Grand Rapids and San Antonio symphonies. He brings his recital program—which juxtaposes works by Mr. Adès, György Kurtág, and Bartók with works by Haydn, Schubert, Brahms, and Liszt—to Berlin’s Philharmonie and London’s Wigmore Hall. Mr. Gerstein also collaborates with the Hagen Quartet in Paris and Hungary.
Mr. Gerstein’s other North American engagements have included performances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has given recitals in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Princeton, Durham, and Washington, DC. In Europe, Mr. Gerstein has played with such prominent orchestras as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, and Oslo Philharmonic. He has performed recitals in Vienna, Paris, Prague, and Hamburg, and at such renowned venues as London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Budapest’s Liszt Academy. Mr. Gerstein has also appeared at the Salzburg, Verbier, Lucerne, and Edinburgh festivals, as well as The Proms.
Mr. Gerstein has studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music, Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid, and Ferenc Rados in Budapest. He teaches at Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler and the Kronberg Academy’s Sir András Schiff Performance Programme for Young Pianists.
