Second Prize winner of the 8th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition

At the 8th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition held in April 2008 in Utrecht, Nino Gvetadze (Georgia, 1981) succeeded in winning both Second Prize, the Press Prize, and the Van Lanschot Bankiers Audience Award. As part of her prizes, Nino will embark on an extensive concert tour. For 2008, she has been invited to appear at the Franz Liszt Festival in Quito (Ecuador), the Orlando Festival in Kerkrade, the Netherlands (with the Rubens String Quartet), the Bayreuth Piano Festival in the Steingraeber Rokokosaal and the Fazioli Concert Hall in Sacile. During the 2008-2009 concert season, Nino will make her debut with the Flemish Radio Orchestra under the baton of Michel Tabachnik in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 as part of the 2009 Brahms Festival.

Nino Gvetadze studied piano at the Z. Paliashvili Music School in Tbilisi and the State Conservatory in the same city, under Veronika Tumanishvili, and Professors Nodar Gabunia and Nana Khabutia. After having received her master’s degree, she moved to the Netherlands, where she studied with Paul Komen at the Hague’s Royal Conservatory, and completed her studies there in 2007. At present, she is studying with Jan Wijn at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Since her first public appearance with an orchestra at the age of six, Nino has been giving solo recitals and appearing as soloist with orchestras, including the Symphony Orchestra of Tbilisi, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Hague’s Residence Orchestra, the Limburg Symphony Orchestra and the Holland Symfonia. Nino has attended the masterclasses of Mikhail Voskresensky, Boris Berman, Dominique Merlet, Igor Roma, Rian de Waal and Jacques Rouvier, and has appeared together with Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

The press and jury comment on Nino Gvetadze:

The only contestant who remained completely herself throughout all the rounds, and in the Finals truly communicated with the Radio Philharmonic, was Nino Gvetadze, whose playing was characterised by exceptional sensitivity and equilibrium, and who showed herself to be a born pianist, gifted with the ability to speak to the heart, even during the most hazardous of passages. (Wenneke Savenije, NRC Handelsblad newspaper)

A musician to be reckoned with [...], Gvetadze experienced Wagner’s ‘Liebestod’ with her entire being, appearing even to forget the presence of either audience or jury. The Waltz from Gounod’s ‘Faust’ was elegant and buoyant in her hands. [..] It would have come as a surprise to no one if Gvetadze had emerged with the First Prize. (Thiemo Wind, de Telegraaf)

Gvetadze proceeded to play Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Valse de l’opéra from Gounod’s Faust (in Franz Liszt’s concert paraphrase), in which she excelled, above all,  through her poetic gifts and feeling for nuance (Frits van der Waa, de Volkskrant newspaper).

Her technique is sublime, but never takes the leading role. This is a pianist with a fantastic tone  culture and deep inner poetry, as well as the ability to differentiate between primary and subordinate elements. (Christo Lelie, Trouw newspaper)

Deeply thoughtful and honest music-making from a player who utterly enchants the audience without any resort to artifice. (Dr. Leslie Howard, concert pianist)