Georgijs Osokins

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Georgijs Osokins (born 25 April 1995) is a Latvian classical pianist. He has gained international attention through his participation at age of 19 in the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition where he quickly became an absolute Audience Favourite but his performances received either superlatives or led to controversy. It was - at the time - stated that he is the first pianist since the time of Emil Gilels to possess such a rarefied sense of time scale. Gidon Kremer has described him as “a highly gifted musician with a big future”.

Early life and education

Born into a family of pianists, Georgijs Osokins began learning piano at the age of five. Osokins began piano studies with his father, Professor Sergejs Osokins, a prominent teacher and pianist in Latvia. Then he moved to the Juilliard School of Music to work with Sergei Babayan and later returned to Europe to study under Georg Friedrich Schenck in Germany. At that time it was discovered that he possesses “a very rare gift of a true Chopinist”. Georgijs took private lessons from Valery Afanassiev, Sir Andràs Schiff, Dmitri Bashkirov, Bernd Goetzke and Mikhail Voskresensky.

Professional career

Osokins performed his debut concert at the age of 10, playing Mozart’s Concerto in D minor, K. 466 with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. Although his successes include winning the first prize in both the 9th International Moscow Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists (2014) and the 9th Alexander Scriabin International Competition in Paris (2009) the breakthrough in his artistic path came later. In 2015, aged only 19, Osokins has been thrown into the limelight of international music critics during the 17^th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. His interpretations of Chopin pieces have been dubbed by critics as “revolutionary”, "exceptional and unpredictable". Gramophone – leading classical music journal – wrote: “Having caused a marked sensation at the competition, he certainly has the requisite mix of agility and grace”. Even before the finals, he walked away with opportunities often reserved just for prizewinners as concert invitations started pouring in for a solo recital at the prestigious "Chopin and His Europe" festival in Warsaw and for his first tour of Japan, as well as invitations from three continents for concerts and recordings.

These included performances at the NOSPR Concert Hall in Katowice, the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Hall, Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow and recitals in Switzerland, Germany, the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Osokins made important debuts at the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Vancouver Playhouse, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, International Piano Series in Bern, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Lockenhaus Festival, Onkagudo Hall in Japan, Tongyeong Hall in South Korea.

Since 2018 Georgijs has been collaborating with Gidon Kremer performing works by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Busoni, Weinberg, Pärt and Silvestrov, touring in the UK, Ireland, Russia, Poland, Germany, Asia and US. Alongside Lucas Debargue, Georgijs was announced the first permanent Guest Artist of Kremerata Baltica in its 22-year history by Gidon Kremer.

Georgijs Osokins has appeared with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Taiwan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo New City Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia. He shared the stage with Gidon Kremer, Giedre Dirvanauskaite, Sergei Nakariakov, Nicolas Altstaedt, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Andrey Boreyko, Lio Kuokman etc.

In 2021 Georgijs Osokins debuted at the 101st Salzburg Festival. 2022 sees his debut performances at Wigmore Hall in London, Pierre-Boulez Hall in Berlin, Sala Verdi in Milan.

Recordings

UK’s label “Piano Classics” released Osokins' two CD albums focused on Chopin’s Late Works and works of Rachmaninoff. These recordings received rave reviews from important Canadian, German, Danish, British and French music magazines. Similar tone has resonated from the renowned classical music pedagogues and piano virtuosos, as seen in the words of Sergei Babayan:

“He has a very rare gift of a true Chopinist.”

In 2020 German label Accentus has released the first chamber music album of Georgijs alongside Gidon Kremer containing trios of Chopin and Beethoven - this CD received excellent reviews worldwide and was nominated for both International Classical Music Awards 2020 and Opus Klassik 2021.

Awards

9th Alexander Scriabin International Competition in Paris – 1^st prize (2009)

9th International Moscow Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists – 1^st prize (2014)

17^th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw – Finalist, Honourable mention (2015)

Manhattan International Music Competition – 1^st prize (2018)

Recipient of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in 2018

Latvian Grand Music Award (2016) - highest honour in music in Latvia. Remains youngest recipient in Awards history

References

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