Kirill Gerstein

American pianist Kirill Gerstein, born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, and now living in Berlin, came to classical music by way of jazz: at the age of 14, he began formal studies in that discipline at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Following three years of study, he continued his training in the classical tradition with Solomon Mikowsky in New York, Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid, and Ferenc Rados in Budapest. Gerstein won the Rubinstein Competition in 2001, followed by the Gilmore Young Artist Award in 2002 and the Avery Fisher Grant Award in 2010. He subsequently appeared with leading American orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Today, Gerstein performs worldwide in solo programs and as a soloist in orchestral concerts. Among many notable projects, he has performed Busoni’s monumental Piano Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gershwin’s Concerto in F at the New Year’s Eve concert of the Saxon State Orchestra, Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles with Sir Simon Rattle, and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Engagements in the 2025-26 season include appearances with the Munich Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Gerstein devotes particular attention to contemporary music: most recently, in March 2026, he gave the world premiere of Francisco Coll’s Piano Concerto in Munich under Rattle’s baton. He maintains a long-standing collaboration piano-duo partnership with Thomas Adès, who composed his Piano Concerto for Gerstein; their joint recording of the work received both the Gramophone Award and the International Classical Music Award. Kirill Gerstein received the Opus Klassik in 2025 for his recording of works by Debussy and Komitas. Since 2018, he has taught as Professor of Piano at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and at the Kronberg Academy.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 1 September 2005 playing works by Schubert, Rachmaninoff, and Kreisler.

January 2026