Zlata Chochieva

Hailed by Jeremy Nicholas in the Gramophone magazine as “one of the most consistently inspired, masterfully executed and beautiful-sounding versions I can recall” and being included in Gramophone’s list of 10 greatest Chopin recordings, Zlata Chochieva came to international attention with her disc of Complete Chopin Etudes along with recordings of Rachmaninov. Since then, she has become known for her distinctive voice amongst pianists and appeared regularly at many prestigious concert halls, festivals and with major orchestras and conductors.

In the 2022/23 season, Chochieva returns to BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Chopin Society, and the Berliner Klavierfestival to perform Rachmaninov for the composer’s 150th anniversary year in 2023. Elsewhere, she performs Dvorak’s Piano Concerto with the Hamburg Camerata at the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. Last season saw Chochieva make her debut in Singapore, giving a recital in Victoria Hall, and in Taiwan performing Chopin’s first Piano Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra. As well as making her US orchestral debut at the Bard Music Festival, she returned to the US for a five-recital tour and to venues across Europe, including the Serate Musicali series in Milan, Tilburg, and Brucknerhaus Linz. She also returned to Aachen Symphony Orchestra following from having been “Artist in Focus” there in the 19/20 season.

Chochieva has appeared at many of the world’s most notable concert halls including London’s Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Philharmonie de Paris, Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, Casa da Musica Porto, and Teatro La Fenice in Venice. She has performed with numerous major orchestras including the Copenhagen Philharmonic, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Conductors Chochieva has enjoyed working with include Simon Gaudenz, Terje Mikkelsen, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Mikhail Pletnev, Tugan Sokhiev, Vladimir Spivakov, and Karl-Heinz Steffens.

She has been regularly invited to leading music festivals, including the Miami International Piano Festival where she returns regularly for teaching, masterclasses, and performing, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, “Rarities of Piano Music” in Husum, Zaubersee Festival Lucerne and the Lugano Festival “Il Progetto Martha Argerich”.

Chochieva, now signed exclusively with Naïve records, is set to release her second disc on the label this season. Her first album on the label, Chiaroscuro (May 2022), is a combination of Mozart and Scriabin, coinciding with Scriabin’s 150th anniversary year and was crowned Critic’s Choice in International Piano Magazine. Chochieva’s previous disc (re)creations on Accentus is a collection of piano transcriptions by Rachmaninov, Liszt, and Friedman, winning a Schallplattenkritik award in the keyboard category and was selected as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone.

Chochieva was born in Moscow and is now a resident of Berlin. Her teachers have included Mikhail Pletnev at the Central Special Music School and Pavel Nersessian at the Moscow State Conservatory. Subsequently, Chochieva completed two years of postgraduate studies under Professor Jacques Rouvier at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg where she was his assistant for several years. Having acquired many international competition prizes over the years, Chochieva moves on from competing and often joins the jury, and was part of the esteemed panel for the 15th Geza Anda Competition in Zurich.

Chochieva established the International Festival at Rachmaninov’s estate in Ivanovka and has been Director since 2018.

Artist Website: zlatachochieva.com

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