Young pianist Giorgi Gigashvili wins Kissinger Piano Olympics, Sandro Nebieridze takes second prize
Competition winner Giorgi Gigashvili (second from right) and second prize recipient Sandro Nebieridze (third from right) on stage with fellow participants of the event. Photo via Kissinger Piano Olympics.
Tweet 
Share
Georgian piano talents Giorgi Gigashvili and Sandro Nebieridze have swept three of the four awards at this year's edition of the Kissinger Piano Olympics, with the former earning the top prize and the Audience Award in the finals on Sunday.
Winner of the 2019 Piano Competition ‘City of Vigo’ and the Ferruccio Busoni competition the same year, the 20-year-old Gigashvili was announced the 2021 recipient of the principal prize of the event promoted as the "summer highlight for music and classical music fans in Germany's most famous health resort Bad Kissingen".
Gigashvili also earned the Audience Award on the final night, while Nebieridze finished second in the competition, ahead of Gustav Piekut of Denmark. This year's line-up also featured emerging talents Gile Bae, Josefa Schmidt and Xiaolu Zang.
The jury panel assessing their performers involved the festival's artistic director Alexander Steinbeis, journalist and festival co-founder Thomas Ahnert, publicist and cultural manager Sonia Simmenauer, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra manager Ulrich Hauschild and author and culture critic Manuel Brug.
The festival offers its stage to six young European pianists in October of every year since 2003, with the shortlisted performers offered a chance to play in the "renowned Rossini Hall/Max-Littmann-Hall", as described by organisers, who select artists already distinguished on the national and international stage.
For Gigashvili, the success follows his selection and wins at important international contests over the recent years, from receiving the ‘City of Vigo’ competition prize from the legendary pianist Martha Argerich, to his earning of two prizes at the Ferruccio Busoni contest.
On his part, Nebieridze was named joint winner of the Grand Prix of the Moscow Grand Piano Competition in 2016, and was a laureate of international contests including the 2015 Astana Piano Passion competition in Kazakhstan and the 2012 Balys Dvarionas International Piano Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania.