Carnegie Hall

Featuring works from J. S. Bach to Thomas Adès, pianist Kirill Gerstein’s playing is distinguished by his ferocious technique and discerning intelligence paired with his energetic, imaginative musical presence that places him at the top of the international profession.

In the 2023–2024 season, Mr. Gerstein features as a spotlight artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, performing four concertos across the season at the Barbican and on tour. In recital, he reprises Adès’s Suite from The Tempest with Christian Tetzlaff, giving premieres in New York, Washington, and Boston. He also appears in solo recital at Chamber Music in Napa Valley, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and Abu Dhabi Festival.

Mr. Gerstein’s forthcoming release on the Platoon label will pair music by Debussy with that of Armenian priest, musicologist, and composer Komitas and will feature collaborations with Adès, Ruzan Mantashyan, and Katia Skanavi.

Born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, Mr. Gerstein attended one of the country’s special music schools for gifted children and taught himself to play jazz at home by listening to his parents’ record collection. Following a chance encounter with jazz legend Gary Burton in St. Petersburg when he was 14, he was invited as the youngest student to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. At the age of 16, he completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the Manhattan School of Music, followed by additional studies with Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid and Ferenc Rados in Budapest. A longtime believer in the importance of teaching in the life of a musician, Mr. Gerstein is currently professor of piano at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and is on the faculty of the Kronberg Academy.

Mr. Gerstein is the sixth recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award as well as a first prize winner at the 10th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient. In May 2021, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.