Lilya Zilberstein

Lilya Zilberstein got her first taste of international success in 1987 when she won the Busoni Competition in Bolzano.

Her victory was a sensation – it took five years until the first prize was even awarded again. By 1988, the Moscow-born pianist was able to perform at big tours abroad, and the concerts took her to almost all of the European countries, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Canada and Brazil.

She immigrated to Germany in 1990, and in 1991 she debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. She has appeared with international orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (Moscow), the London Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra della Scala (Milan), the Staatskapelle Dresden, a.o.

Lilya Zilberstein has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, the Grieg Piano Concerto (Järvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra) and the Second and Third Piano Concertos by Rachmaninov (Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra). She also contributed to the first complete CD recording of the Frédéric Chopin oeuvre, in 1999. Recently, a recording of the Brahms sonata for two pianos with Martha Argerich, is released by EMI.

She is a regular guest in the major concert halls and at the most important festivals in Europe, the USA, Canada, Asia, South America and the Middle East. She has played extensive world tours as the chamber music partner of Maxim Vengerov. For the first time in 16 years, she returned to her home city of Moscow, where she gave a highly acclaimed concert. With her duet partner Martha Argerich, she will celebrate her twenty-year anniversary on the stage in 2019. The prominent duo can also be heard in the current season, in a highly coveted concert at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

In 2017, Lilya Zilberstein‘s recitals and concerts took her to major music halls in Europe, the USA, South America, China and Taiwan, and yet again to the Salzburg Easter Festival. In the current season, she is invited to play, inter alia, at the Musikverein Vienna, in Dresden, Budapest, Lisbon, Milan, Beijing, and to give her first recital in the new Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.   

Lilya Zilberstein is jury member of a number of international piano competitions. She gives regularly masterclasses at universities and conservatories all over the world. Since 2015, she is Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.