“Boris Giltburg is globally acclaimed as a deeply sensitive, insightful, and compelling interpreter. Critics have praised his ‘singing melodic line, variety of touch, and a broad dynamic range capable of great bursts of energy’ (Washington Post), as well as his passionate, narrative approach to performance.
Giltburg performs regularly in the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Bozar Brussels, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, London’s Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Prague’s Rudolfinum, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus. During the 2024/25 season, he will undertake an eight-concert series performing the complete Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle at Wigmore Hall, all of which will be live-streamed.
Giltburg is widely recognized as one of the leading interpreters of Rachmaninov: ‘His originality stems from a convergence of heart and mind, served by immaculate technique and driven by a deep and abiding love for one of the 20th century’s greatest composer-pianists’ (Gramophone). To celebrate Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary in 2023, Giltburg released the final disc of his acclaimed Rachmaninov concerto cycle, which won a Choc de Classica award and a 5-star review in The Times. In recent years, Giltburg has deeply explored other major composers, including Ravel (performing solo works at Bozar, Flagey, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, and Wigmore Hall, alongside concertos with the Orchestre National de France, Brussels Philharmonic, and Residentie Orkest) and, more recently, Chopin, with three recital appearances at Wigmore Hall last season.
This season’s Beethoven cycle continues this exploration, following his unique project in 2020 to mark the Beethoven anniversary by recording and filming all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas within a year: ‘These interpretations are immensely enjoyable and at times revelatory… Giltburg’s pianism and technique perfectly evoke the mature Beethoven’ (five stars, BBC Music Magazine). He also recorded the complete concertos with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and was featured in the BBC TV series Being Beethoven.
The orchestras he has collaborated with include the Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Oslo Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In the 2024/25 season, Giltburg will explore concertos by various composers: performing Rachmaninov with the Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony, and Gulbenkian Orchestra; Prokofiev with the Belgian National and Stavanger Symphony; Tchaikovsky with the London Philharmonic; Mozart with the Hamburger Symphoniker; Shostakovich with the Enescu Philharmonic; Bartók with Teatro Colón; and Grieg with the Dresden Philharmonic.
Giltburg is a highly experienced recording artist, recording exclusively for Naxos since 2015. He won the Opus Klassik award for Best Solo Recording for Rachmaninov’s concertos and Études-Tableaux; a Diapason d’Or for Shostakovich’s concertos and his own arrangement of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8; and a Choc de Classica for the Rachmaninov concertos. He also won a Gramophone Award for Dvořák’s Piano Quintet on Supraphon with the Pavel Haas Quartet, as well as a Diapason d’Or and a Choc de Classica for their joint release of Brahms’s Piano Quintet.
Giltburg feels a strong impulse to engage audiences beyond the concert hall. His blog, ‘Classical Music for All,’ is aimed at a non-specialist audience and complements the articles he writes for publications such as Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, The Guardian, The Times, and Fono Forum.”
