Oh, what a wonderful, majestic beginning. Mariam Batsashvili began Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B minor powerfully – but not with violence, rather with grandeur. (…) The young pianist has a superbly clear attack, and technically speaking plays perfectly, without being interested in perfection or making a show of it. No, she is interested in something quite different: in maintaining intimate contact with the accompanying orchestra, for example, not only with her playing, but also physically, with looks and gestures. She understands music making as concert-giving in the best sense – together.
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Egbert Tholl, 13.5.2017
At just 24 years old, Mariam Batsashvili already ranks among the most promising young pianists of her generation. She gained international recognition at the 10th Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht 2014, where she won First Prize as well as the Junior Jury Award and the Press Prize. “Winner Batsashvili turns every phrase into something special”, headlined Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, and the international Jury called her a “complete artist” with a “tremendous touch” and “sincere emotion”.
Following this success, she gained her first experiences with leading symphony orchestras, including the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of James Gaffigan in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1), the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Rafael Payare (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1) and the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra (Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2). Mariam has also given recitals in more than 30 countries – among these China, South Korea, Indonesia, Brazil, the United States, South Africa, France, Spain, Norway, the Baltic countries, Benelux and Germany. She has been the guest of many international festivals, such as the Beethovenfest Bonn, Pianofortissimo Festival Bologna and the Delft Chamber Music Festival.
Mariam Batsashvili has just been announced as a BBC New Generation Artist and will perform at major festivals and concert venues across the UK as part of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme. She was nominated by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) as ‘Rising Star’ for the 2016/17 season, and performed in the most significant concert halls throughout Europe, including the Philharmonies of Paris, Cologne and Luxembourg, the Vienna Musikverein, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Müpa Budapest, L’Auditori in Barcelona, the Stockholm Concert Hall, the Southbank Centre in London, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and returned to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. She was enthusiastically received at London’s Wigmore Hall and gave her debut at the Piano City festival in Milan. She performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen under Norichika Iimori in Munich’s Herkulessaal, and Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne under Gábor Takács-Nagy.
The pianist’s 2017/18 season is also peppered with exciting debuts. As well as giving performances at the Philharmonic halls of St Petersburg and Berlin, she will appear at the Tonhalle Zurich and London’s Wigmore Hall. In September, she will make her debut at the Piano aux Jacobins festival in Toulouse. She will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 K 488 with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique and the Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn. Her touring schedule sees her appearing in countries including Mexico and the USA, and at the Rheingau Musikfestival she will give her first performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
Born 1993 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Mariam Batsashvili first studied with Natalia Natsvlishvili at the E. Mikeladze Central Music School in her hometown, before continuing at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar with Professor Grigory Gruzman. In 2011 she won First Prize at the International Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists in Weimar, and received the prestigious Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Award in 2015. Mariam Batsashvili is a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. She has been an official Yamaha Artist since 2017.
These youtube links take you to recordings from the 23° Festival Internacional de Piano Sala Beethoven 2017:
Liszt Piano Concerto No.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE-uEpjzkKo
Liszt Sonata en si menor
