Mariam Batsashvili, First Prize winner 10th Liszt Competition

On 8 November 2014 Mariam Batsashvili won First Prize at the 10th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht. She received her prize in the main hall of TivoliVredenburg, in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Máxima. “Winner Batsashvili turns every phrase into something special”, was the headline in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The International Press Jury called her a “complete artist” with an “amazing touch” and full of “heartfelt emotion”.

Mariam Batsashvili, born in Georgia in 1993, is the first woman to win First Prize at the Liszt Competition. As winner she embarked on an extensive concert tour, taking her to more than 30 countries. The morning after winning the competition she made her debut in the main hall of Het Amsterdam Concertgebouw, performing Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of James Gaffigan.

Mariam Batsashvili studied at the E. Mikeladze Central Music School in Tbilisi, Georgia with Natalia Natsvlishvili and at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar with Grigory Gruzman. She won prizes from various competitions such as First Prize at the International Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists in Weimar in 2011 as well as the prestigious Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli award in 2015. Mariam has performed in over 30 countries including China (including NCPA, Beijing and Shanghai Concert hall), Brazil, the United States, South Africa, South Korea, The Baltic Countries, Indonesia, Norway, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands both in recital and with orchestra. She was a soloist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador and with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. She also performed at festivals such as the Beethovenfest Bonn, Pianofortissimo Festival Bologna and Delft Chamber Music Festival.

Upcoming

For season 2016/2017 she has been nominated as ECHO Rising Stars by Bozar Brussels and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam. This will see her perform in the 20 most prestigious concert halls of Europe including Musik Verein in Vienna and Cite de la Musique in Paris.
Other future engagements will see Batsashvili work with the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Württembergische Philharmonie. She will also make her debut at Wigmore Hall, London and perform in 20 other countries including the United States, China, South Africa, Russia, Spain, Germany and France.

Mariam Batsashvili is a scholarship holder of Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.