Biography

Khatia Buniatishvili was born in the Republic of Georgia in 1987 and made her debut performance as soloist with an orchestra at age six. After completing her studies at the Tbilisi Conservatory, she worked with Oleg Meisenberg at the Vienna Academy for Music and Performing Arts. She has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Israel and Saint Petersburg philharmonics, and the NDR Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Buniatishvili has performed solo recitals and chamber music concerts in venues including Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and London’s Wigmore Hall; she has also been a featured soloist at the Verbier and Progetto Martha Argerich festivals, as well as Gidon Kremer's Internationales Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus. She first appeared with the San Francisco Symphony last January.

Ms. Buniatishvili’s last season included performances with the Munich and Israel philharmonics, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and Verbier Festival Orchestra; she joined the Frankfurt HR-Symphony Tour in Frankfurt, Linz, and Bregenz, and performed recitals at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música and Musikverein. Upcoming appearances include return visits to the Orchestre de Paris and Munich Philharmonic; recitals in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, and London; and the Verbier, Lucerne, and Schwetzinger Musiktage festivals.

A prize winner at the 2008 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Ms. Buniatishvili was named a BBC New Generation Artist for 2009-11 and is regularly invited to collaborate with the BBC Orchestra. In 2010 she received the London Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and the Musikverein nominated her for the European “Rising Star” award for the 2011-12 season. Ms. Buniatishvili records for Sony and last month released a CD of music by Chopin.

(October 2012)