Giorgi Gigashvili (piano)

Giorgi Gigashvili is only twenty-two, but he is already hitting the headlines: now a pupil of Nelson Goerner, he is a protégé of Martha Argerich, who gave him the urge to play the piano alongside his first love, pop singing: at the age of thirteen, he was a contestant in The Voice in his homeland, Georgia, and won the prize! A few years later, Argerich discovered him at a piano competition, and he went on to win prizes at several more, including the Hortense Anda-Bührle Prize at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich in 2021. Another high-flying mentor, the violinist Lisa Batiashvili, asked him to play him the piano on her recording of the Franck Violin Sonata. His free and spectacular playing impresses, his creativity and personality astonish. Here he presents his first recital, revealing his palette of colours: Scarlatti, Beethoven, Scriabin and Messiaen. But never far away is his shadow, the singer of the electro band Tsduneba (‘temptation’ in Georgian) which he founded with his friends.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) , Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) , Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) , Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) , Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

• Beethoven: Eroica Variations, Op. 35
• Brahms: Intermezzi (3), Op. 117
• Scarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K29 in D major
• Scarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K487 in C major
• Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 'Black Mass'
• Scriabin: Waltz in A flat major, Op. 38