Pursuing a career as a high-level professional classical musician is definitely an obstacle course. At 24, Georgian-born Khatia Buniatishvili has accumulated enough successes to grant her admission into the closed circle of international concert pianists. After starting the piano under the instruction of her mother at age 3, Khatia attended the Tbilisi Central Music School, before entering the Tbilisi State Conservatory. At the 2003 Piano Competition in Tbilisi, she met Oleg Maisenberg who advised her to transfer to Vienna’s Academy for Music and the Performing Arts. She later won awards at prestigious competitions like the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition (2008), collaborated with BBC orchestras as a BBC New Generation Artist (2009), participated at high profile music festivals like Verbier and appeared with some of the world’s most distinguished orchestras. The whole was crowned by the recent signing of an exclusive worldwide contract with Sony Classical, which released her first album entirely dedicated to Franz Liszt (1811-1886), her favorite composer. 

Incidentally, 2011 was marked by the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Hungarian-born genius pianist and composer. 

We met charming Khatia Buniatishvili during her short stay in Greece, after performing Lizst’s Sonata in B minor and Mephisto Waltz No.1, Chopin Scherzos 1,2  & 3 and 3 parts of Stravinsky’s piano version of Petrushka at the Athens Concert Hall. 

L.K: What does the life of a young concert pianist ‘sound’ like?

K.B: Well, at the moment I perform about 90-100 recitals a year. The piano is an instrument that is ‘self-sufficient’, which means that I mostly play solo recitals. Being a concert pianist is mainly about constant traveling, seeing different halls, hotels, airports, and in a way leading a solitary life. Fortunately, I meet many people, essentially fellow musicians and conductors, when I perform with orchestras around the world and have the opportunity to share moments with others through music.

L.K: Your album refers to the Faustian myth, an old German legend that has inspired literature, poetry, opera and music for over four centuries! It’s a dark, romantic theme par excellence! Berlioz, Gounod, Boito, Spohr and Busoni, all contemporaries or students of Liszt but even Stravinsky or Prokofiev, his Russian ‘heirs’ of the following generation, created their own version of Faust. What does the Faustian myth symbolize for you?

K.B: Actually, the First Mephisto Waltz was based on a Faustian poem, which was originally written in German by the Hungarian writer Nikolaus Lenau in 1836. Liszt was a true innovator and one of the first to believe that music and the use of bold sounds could describe moods, plots and abstract ideas as well as words or images could. As an unequalled master of technique, his experimentations led to the discovery and use of new ‘dramatic’ sound effects, completely revolutionizing the musical perception of what was harmonious/disharmonious as well as pushing the limits of what was physically possible at the keyboard. The Mephisto Waltz musically expresses lust, seduction, madness, suspense, greed, excess and excitement. Mephisto’s devilish satisfaction contrasts the delicate voice of poor little Marguerite, the fresh and innocent voice of love, and the desperate, searching voice of Faust. All three characters are intertwined in a single piece and may reflect the complex, doubting nature of the artist. 

L.K: Your technique is amazing ! Any thoughts on composing?

K.B: Thank you! My first finished ‘composition’ was inspired by a Georgian folk rhythm and I played it last night as an Encore! I was really touched because there were many compatriots in the audience who recognized the tune and brought me flowers at the end of the recital. Besides that, I recently got a proposal to compose a soundtrack for a documentary film…I might try because I’m always excited about new projects. 

L.K: Apart from music, do you have time for other activities?

K.B: Yes! Reading has always been my second passion– if I were to name my favourite authors, I’d certainly mention Dostoyevsky and Thomas Mann as well as Georgian writer Grigol Robakidze, of course. I am also very attracted to video art, as I came up with the idea of a promotional video for my CD, which was filmed in Hamburg.

Louise Kissa 

lkissa@neurope.eu