Debut Giorgi Gigashvili

Giorgi Gigashvili had not even considered becoming a pianist. As a child, he much preferred singing and arranging Georgian folk songs. He even participated in the television show The Voice and won. But the desire to play the piano turned out to be stronger after all. Gigashvili studied with Nelson Goerner and Kirill Gerstein and won the 2019 Vigo Piano Competition with his idol Martha Argerich chairing the jury. He also emerged at the top of the Olympic piano competition in Bad Kissingen and won several prizes at the Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv in addition to second place. The BBC chose him as a New Generation Artist and the European Concert Hall Organisation as a Rising Star for the 2025-26 season. And when Gigashvili applied for the Music Prize of the German Economy in the fall of 2024, he upstaged his prominent competition, earning his appearance in the Debut series at Lucerne Festival. Yet Gigashvili previously thrilled audiences here last summer at Lisa Batiashvili’s special scholarship concert. For his Debut series program, he has chosen two of the impressive series of sonatas Prokofiev wrote during the Second World War, as well as Chopin’s breathtaking Ballade No. 4.