Pianist Kirill Gerstein combines Russian, American and Central European music-making with an insatiable curiosity. These qualities and his musical relationships have enabled him to explore a huge spectrum of both new and old repertoires. From Bach to Adès, Gerstein’s playing reveals a ferocious technique and discerning intelligence, matched with an energetic, imaginative musical presence that places him at the top of his profession.

Born in the former Soviet Union, Gerstein is an American citizen based in Berlin. He has given scores of performances and recitals round the world. This season, Gerstein becomes artist-in-residence with the BRSO, with whom he will perform global concerts with the very top names.

Gerstein’s has a forthcoming double album on Myrios Classics, with which he first collaborated in 2010 and has led to many thoughtfully curated projects including Strauss’s Enoch Arden and Busoni’s Piano Concerto. Deutsche Grammophon’s 2020 release of the world première performance of Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, written especially for Gerstein, was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards.

Gerstein teaches piano at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Hochschule and the Kronberg Academy. His online seminars entitled Kirill Gerstein Invites are now in their fifth season, featuring conversations with leading musicians, artists, and thinkers.

Born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, Gerstein attended a music school for gifted children. He was later the youngest student invited to attend Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Gerstein completed his degrees with Solomon Mikowsky at New York’s Manhattan School of Music, and later under Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid, and Ferenc Rados in Budapest. Gerstein is the sixth recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award. In May 2021, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music.