Boris Giltburg

The winner of the 2013 Elisabeth Concours puts it as follows, in all modesty: ‘I like the idea that the music you make is capable of transporting the audience away from their mundane reality. The famous Sonata Opus 111, the ‘Hammerklavier’, is one of the most challenging ever. Like no other sonata, this piece leaves reality for what it is and takes you straight to heaven.'

Giltburg was born in Moscow in 1984. His mother taught him the piano from the age of five. Later he moved to Israel, where he studied in Tel Aviv under Arie Vardi from 1995-2007. In 2002 he won second prize at the Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition in Spain. Together with the London Symphony Orchestra he played Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto there. In 2011 Giltburg won second prize at the Artur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. Since then he has performed with the likes of the Philharmonia, the Royal Liverpool Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. He usually performs (late-)Romantic repertoire at his numerous solo recitals.