Boris Giltburg

Pianist Boris Giltburg has combined training in the core Russian and Western repertory with fresh efforts to expose this repertory to audiences outside the usual classical spheres. He has recorded many albums for the Naxos label, including a complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas as well as all of the composer's piano concertos. Giltburg was born in Moscow in 1984, and his family joined the exodus of Russian Jews to Israel soon after. His first piano teacher, beginning at age five, was his mother. In Israel, he studied with the veteran Tel Aviv pianist and teacher Arie Vardi. In 2006, he made his recording debut on the EMI label, issuing an album of works by Mussorgsky, Scriabin, and Prokofiev. Vardi was a fixture of international prize juries, and Giltburg was schooled in clean readings that appealed to those juries. An early triumph was a second prize at the Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition in Spain in 2002, the second prize (and the audience prize) at the Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv in 2011, and first prize two years later at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, a major honor. Even prior to the former honor, Giltburg had made his debut at the BBC Proms, and the prizes propelled him to concerto appearances with the likes of the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and, in the U.S., the Nashville and Baltimore Symphonies. After a disc of Romantic piano sonatas for the Orchid label in 2013, he signed that year with the Naxos label and has recorded Beethoven, Rachmaninov, and Shostakovich there, as well as an album of Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7, and 8. Vardi's orientation toward a broader public -- he was well known for his television programs introducing classical repertory -- is reflected in his students' approach; Giltburg maintains a blog devoted to nonspecialist listeners and uses his own photography in many of the graphics associated with his work. Giltburg has also been an active chamber music player and recorded Dvořák's piano quintets with the Pavel Haas Quartet on the Supraphon label in 2017 and Brahms' Piano Quartet, Op. 34, and String Quintet, Op. 111, for the same label in 2022. The year 2022 also saw the release of Giltburg's performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 74 ("Emperor"), and a reconstruction of the so-called Piano Concerto No. 0, WoO 4, of Beethoven's youth, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under conductor Vasily Petrenko. After recording the rest of Beethoven's piano concertos, he completed Rachmaninov's with the release of Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto Nos. 1 & 4; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in 2023. Giltburg continued his exploration of Rachmaninov's piano works with the 2025 release of his Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2; The Isle of the Dead and the next year's Morceaux de Fantaisie; Morceaux de Salon; Three Nocturnes; Four Pieces, all on Naxos. ~ James Manheim, Rovi