Nicolas Namoradze — Piano

Nicolas Namoradze is a visionary pianist and composer acclaimed for his innovative artistry and intellectual depth. He came to international prominence in 2018 as the winner of the Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary and has since established himself as one of the most distinctive voices of his generation. A Musical America New Artist, BBC Music Magazine Rising Star, and Gramophone One to Watch, he was named Pianist of the Year by the UK Critics’ Circle in 2022. His recitals are frequently sold out, praised by critics worldwide, and his recordings on the Honens, Hyperion, and Steinway labels have received top honors including the Choc de Classica, Limelight Record of the Month, BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Disc of the Month, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Presto Classical Editor’s Choice, and International Piano Critics’ Choice, as well as debuting at No. 1 on the UK classical instrumental charts.

In the 2024/25 season, Mr. Namoradze performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in San Antonio before embarking on a Canadian recital tour. Orchestral engagements include appearances with the Calgary Philharmonic, Moravian Philharmonic, Georgian Philharmonic, and Sarasota Festival Orchestra. Recital highlights feature returns to Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Meisterkonzerte Homburg, and Wigmore Hall, alongside residencies at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, Verbier Festival, Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Sarasota Music Festival. He also serves on the jury of the Busoni and Honens competitions.

Recent seasons brought a broadcast of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, later selected by medici.tv among the greatest performances by piano competition winners. His performance at London’s Royal Festival Hall was hailed by The Guardian as “ideally laconic and debonair, weighty yet exquisite, and exactingly precise in tone and touch.” International Piano described his Wigmore Hall recital as “astonishing… every bar touched with beauty.”

Mr. Namoradze has appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Munich’s Isarphilharmonie, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Kulturpalast Dresden, LuganoMusica, and festivals including Verbier, Tanglewood, Banff, Gstaad, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Portland Piano International, and Festival Radio France Montpellier. He has performed with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Milwaukee Symphony, RAI Orchestra, and Dresdner Philharmonie, under conductors including Karina Canellakis, Hans Graf, Jeffrey Kahane, John Axelrod, Ken-David Masur, Finnegan Downie-Dear, and Daniele Rustioni.

As a composer, Mr. Namoradze has received commissions from artists and ensembles including Ken-David Masur, Lukas Ligeti, Tessa Lark, Metropolis Ensemble, and the Momenta, Verona, and Barkada Quartets. His works have been performed at the Chelsea Music Festival, Honens Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Portland Piano International, and the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, and released on the Steinway label. He has also written film scores, including Le chant des étoiles (Musée Unterlinden) and Nuit d’opéra à Aix (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence). His compositions are published by Muse Press (Japan).

Mr. Namoradze is also active in research and education. His doctoral thesis at the CUNY Graduate Center, awarded the Barry Brook Award, explored mathematical models of musical perception and was published by Springer as Ligeti’s Macroharmonies. He pursued further postgraduate studies in neuroscience at King’s College London, developing innovative concert formats that merge performance with cognitive science. He also created a digital platform for music and science on IDAGIO, the world’s leading classical streaming service.

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1992 and raised in Budapest, Hungary, Mr. Namoradze studied in Budapest, Vienna, and Florence before completing his master’s degree at The Juilliard School and doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. His teachers and mentors have included Emanuel Ax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Zoltán Kocsis, Matti Raekallio, András Schiff, and Eliso Virsaladze in piano, and John Corigliano in composition. He has taught at Queens College, CUNY Graduate Center, and The Juilliard School.