Eliso Virsaladze

 ( 1942 Births ) 

Eliso Virsaladze (ელისო ვირსალაძე; born September 14, 1942) is a Georgian pianist.

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Biography She was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR. Her father Constantine Virsaladze was a prominent doctor and scientist, so was her grandfather Spiridon Virsaladze. She received her first piano lessons at the age of 9 from her grandmother, Anastasia Virsaladze, a well-known pianist and professor in Georgia. From the age of 9, she also started receiving lessons from Heinrich Neuhaus up until his last days. She graduated from the Tbilisi State Conservatory (Class of Anastasia Virsaladze), and continued her education as a postgraduate student at the Moscow Conservatory with Yakov Zak. She has also played for A. Goldenweiser and Nathan Perelman many times.

She won the 3rd prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962 and the 1st prize in the Robert Schumann International Competition in Zwickau, Germany in 1966.

Sviatoslav Richter considered her the best female pianist of her time, and the best interpreter of Robert Schumann.

Considered a great pianist, 88 notes pour piano solo, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Neva Editions, 2015, p. 51. Virsaladze has been teaching at Moscow Conservatory since 1967 (becoming a professor in 1993), University of Music and Performing Arts of Munich, Germany (1995-2011). From 2010 she has been teaching at Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, Italy. She is also a distinguished visiting professor at the Tokyo College of Music. In addition, regularly gives masterclasses all over the world.

Among her most outstanding students are: B. Berezovsky, Alexei Volodin, Alexei Zuev, J.H.Park, T. Yang, Dmitry Shishkin.

Since 1975, she has served on the jury of many well-known international competitions, including: Queen Elisabeth Competition, Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, R. Schumann International Competition, Géza Anda International Piano Competition, International Tchaikovsky Competition, Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition, Tbilisi International Piano Competition and many others.

Eliso Virsaladze speaks 8 languages: Georgian, English Language, German Language, French Language, Italian Language, Spanish Language, Russian Language and Polish Language.

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Orchestras and chamber music Since 1966, Eliso Virsaladze has given recitals and appeared with major international orchestras under Yevgeny Svetlanov, Kyrill Kondrashin, Yuri Temirkanov, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Sanderling, Mariss Jansons, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Marin Alsop, Charles Dutoit, Mikhail Pletnev, Vakhtang and Jansug Kakhidze and many others.

Virsaladze enjoys playing chamber music, partnering with Natalia Gutman, Oleg Kagan, the Borodin and the Sergei Taneyev Quartets. She is an interpreter of Robert Schumann, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Chopin and so many others. Live Classics has recorded most of her broad repertoire.

She was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Georgian SSR in 1971, and of People's Artist of the USSR in 1989.

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See also

• Virsaladze, Georgian family name.

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External links

• Richter Competition
• Archives
• Eliso Virsaladze Interview by Willem Boone

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