Kirill Gerstein

Kirill Gerstein is the kind of pianist who makes you rethink what "classical" even means — born in Voronezh, trained in jazz at Berklee before pivoting to concert piano, and eventually becoming the sixth winner of the Gilmore Artist Award, one of the most prestigious and quietly selective honors in classical music. That jazz background isn't a footnote; it bleeds into the way he shapes a phrase, the rhythmic elasticity he brings to Brahms or Ravel. He's based in Berlin, which feels right for someone with this transatlantic sensibility — Russian roots, American training, European stage. His recordings consistently go somewhere unexpected, and that's the best compliment I can give a pianist in a field full of technically flawless but emotionally safe performances.

Name (English)

Kirill Gerstein

Name (Japanese)

キリル・ゲルシュタイン

Reading

きりる・げるしゅたいん

Born

October 23, 1979 (age 46)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Goat

Origin

Voronezh, Tsardom of Russia

Occupation

pianist

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.kirillgerstein.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AD%E3%83%AA%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B2%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3

Tags

• pianist

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.