Mariam Batsashvili
The Georgian-born pianist will make her Proms debut later this summer
BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Mariam Batsashvili has signed to Warner Classics and will release her debut album with the label this August. For her debut album, she has assembled a programme in which pieces by Liszt and by his contemporary Frédéric Chopin offer mutual illumination. Chopin was born in 1810, Liszt in 1811 and they were good friends for a time when they were both living in Paris. They even dedicated études to each other, and a number of these are included on the album.
Batsashvili explains, 'Liszt and Chopin are very, very different in the way they express themselves. They are from different planets. But I can hear in their music that they respected each other very much.'
Trained in Germany, she gained international recognition in 2014 when she won the 10th Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht, having already triumphed in the International Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists in Weimar in 2011. Still in her mid-twenties, she has given recitals in more than 30 countries and appeared as a concerto soloist with major orchestras and conductors. In 2015 she received the prestigious Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize and she spent the 2016-17 season as a ‘Rising Star’ of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO). She is currently a member of the BBC’s high-profile New Generation Artist scheme.
Batsashvili will be performing at the BBC Proms on Sunday 18th August.