Georgian Pianist's Album Is Leading iTunes Top Charts

Famous Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili’s album – Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 – is leading the iTunes chart for classical music.

The album of Buniatishvili even surpassed the official studio recording of Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s Royal Wedding.

The album of Rachmaninoff's piano concerts performed by Khatia Buniatishvili was recorded in 2017 with accompaniment from the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and well-known conductor Paavo Järvi.

Buniatishvili’s extraordinary talent was recognized when she was very young. At age six, she made her debut performance with an orchestra, and was subsequently invited to tour internationally with them. 

During her studies at Tbilisi’s State Conservatoire, she won a special prize at the Horowitz International Competition for Young Pianists in Kiev in 2003 as well as first prize at the Foundation to Assist Young Georgian Musicians competition set up by Elisabeth Leonskaya. She then became acquainted with Russian-Austrian pianist Oleg Maisenberg, who persuaded her to transfer to Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts.

Winner of the Bronze Medal at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in 2008, she was also distinguished as the Best Performer of a Chopin piece and as Audience Favorite.

Throughout her career, she has performed at venues around the world, such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Royal Festival Hall (London), Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Berlin Philharmonie, Paris Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Paris), La Scala (Milan), Teatro La Fenice (Venice), Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), Victoria Hall (Geneva), Tonhalle (Zurich), Rudolfinum (Prague), Grand Theater (Shanghai), Beijing NCPA (Beijing), NCPA (Mumbai), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), and Esplanade Theatre (Singapore). Khatia has participated in the Salzburg, Verbier, Gstaad Menuhin, La Roque d’Anthéron, and iTunes festivals, as well as LA’s Hollywood Bowl, BBC Proms, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, and Progetto Martha Argerich.

She has been involved numerous social rights projects, such as the DLDwomen13 Conference (2013) in Munich, “To Russia with Love” (2013), a concert in Berlin to speak out against the violation of human rights in Russia, “Charity Concert in Kiev” (2015) for wounded persons in the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone, and the United Nation’s 70th Anniversary Humanitarian Concert (2015) in Geneva which benefited Syrian refugees. 

Her discography includes Franz Liszt (2011), Chopin (2012), Motherland (2014), and Kaleidoscope (2016) under the SONY Classical label, as well as Kissine, Tchaikovsky: Piano Trios with Gidon Kremer and Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė (2011) and Franck, Grieg, Dvorak: Violin Sonatas (2014) with violinist Renaud Capuçon. She also collaborated with rock group Coldplay on their latest album A Head Full of Dreams.

She is two times ECHO Klassik Award winner in 2012 for Franz Liszt and 2016 for Kaleidoscope.

By Thea Morrison

Photo: Esther Haase