Nicolas Namoradze

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Pianist and composer Nicolas Namoradze, whose performances have been hailed as "sparkling… sensitive and coloristic" (The New York Times) and "simply gorgeous" (Wall Street Journal), came to international attention in 2018 upon winning the triennial Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, Canada—one of the largest prizes in classical music. His often sold-out recitals around the globe have been met with universal critical praise, and recent album releases have received extraordinary accolades, including the Choc de Classica, Record of the Month in Limelight, Instrumental Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Editor’s Choice in Presto Classical and Critics’ Choice in International Piano, as well as a first-place debut in the UK charts for classical instrumental albums.

Among the most critically acclaimed musicians of his generation, Namoradze was bestowed the 2020 & 2021 Young Pianist Award by the UK Critics’ Circle, which called him "very much more than a top-flight pianist." A Gramophone "One to Watch" and BBC Music Magazine "Rising Star," Namoradze was also named among WQXR’s "20 for 20," a list that "includes long-time heroes, established favorites and newcomers set for stardom who are redefining what classical music can be." Recent critical highlights include rare five-star reviews in The Telegraph and The Guardian, which called his performance at Royal Festival Hall "ideally laconic and debonair, weighty yet exquisite, and exactingly precise in tone and touch." A January 2022 cover feature in International Piano declared Namoradze’s Wigmore Hall debut "astonishing," concluding that, "with so many talents and interests it is impossible to predict what this young man will go on to do: all we can be sure of is that it will be both original and unexpected."

„Namoradze leads the audience on a path between sensitivity and amazement. The result? Stunning.”Augsburger Allgemeine, November 2021

Activities of the 2022-23 season include residencies at Toronto Summer Music, the Honens International Piano Competition and the Florida Grand Piano Series; recital appearances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Le Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier, Beethovenfest Bonn, Miami International Piano Festival, Kulturpalast Dresden and Lugano Musica, among others; a tour of duo recitals for piano and electronic marimba with Lukas Ligeti to mark György Ligeti’s centenary in 2023; and a series of concerto performances with multiple Canadian orchestras of a new work written for him by Kati Agócs. Highlights of recent seasons include recitals at Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and Boston’s Gardner Museum; appearances at Tanglewood, Banff, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Telavi Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Portland Piano International, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, and more; and performances with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and Milwaukee Symphony, with conductors such as Iván Fischer, Karina Canellakis, Ken-David Masur, Finnegan Downie-Dear and Daniele Rustioni.

Highlights of his work as a composer include commissions and performances by leading artists and ensembles including Ken-David Masur, Lukas Ligeti, Tessa Lark, Metropolis Ensemble and the Momenta, Verona and Barkada Quartets, at festivals such as the Chelsea Music Festival, Honens Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Portland Piano International and the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, among others. He has also composed and produced a number of film soundtracks, including Walking Painting by Fabienne Verdier and Nuit d’opéra à Aix, made in association with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. His compositions are published by the Japan-based Muse Press.

„Set to become one of the truly important artists of his generation.”Emanuel Ax

In tandem with his musical career, Namoradze is actively engaged in various music-related fields in the cognitive sciences. His doctoral dissertation at the CUNY Graduate Center developed mathematical models for aspects of musical perception; the work won the Barry Brook Award, a distinction for exceptional achievement, and is published by Springer as the book "Ligeti’s Macroharmonies" in the Computational Music Science series. He now pursues postgraduate studies in neuropsychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College, London, where his research interests include the effects of mental practice and mindfulness on musical performance.

Namoradze is also the creator of IDAGIO Mindfulness, a platform on IDAGIO, the world’s leading classical music streaming app. Besides a podcast, video series and several other resources, the core of the platform constitutes several mental skills and mindfulness training courses for both performers and listeners. As part of his work in the field, Namoradze has begun presenting a new event type, "mindful recitals," interspersing musical performances with guided meditations that combine mindfulness practice and music appreciation.

Namoradze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1992 and grew up in Budapest, Hungary. After completing his undergraduate in Budapest, Vienna and Florence, he moved to New York for his master’s at The Juilliard School and his doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center, holding the Graduate Center Fellowship. His teachers and mentors have included Emanuel Ax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Zoltán Kocsis, Matti Raekallio, András Schiff and Elisso Virsaladze in piano, and John Corigliano in composition. For several years Namoradze served on the faculty of Queens College, where he taught chamber music, composition and music history.

2022 / 2023

This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.

Contacts: Carolin Traute-Breidenbach, Annabell Blank

2022 / 2023

I

Berg: Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 1

Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 869 (from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I)

Namoradze: Etudes (selections)

Bach: Prelude and Fugue in F major, BWV 856 (from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I)

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54

***

Beethoven: Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier”

II

Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (selections)

Namoradze: Etudes (selections)

Bach-Rachmaninov: Suite from Violin Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006

Rachmaninov-Namoradze: Adagio from Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

***

Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (selections)

Rachmaninov 150

2023

Bach-Rachmaninov: Suite from Violin Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006

Rachmaninov-Namoradze: Adagio from Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

Rachmaninov: Nine Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 (selections)

Namoradze: Etudes (selections)

***

Namoradze: Memories of Rachmaninov’s “Georgian Song”

Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28

Ligeti 100

2023

Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier (selections)

Ligeti: Etudes (selections)

Namoradze: Etudes (selections)

***

Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat major, D 960

2023 / 2024

Mindful Recitals

Mindful recitals are concerts that alternate musical performances with short mindfulness exercises and thought experiments. Each piece of music is preceded by a discussion and guided meditation that lasts a few minutes long. These meditations are a cross between mindfulness and music appreciation: they not only ease the listener into a calm, aware and perceptive state of mind, but also include cues about how to listen to the specific piece of music coming up, guiding the listener into a particular headspace to hear these works.

Unlike a lecture-recital, which may rely on some understanding of music theory or history, these mindful recitals do not assume any prior knowledge. On the contrary, they encourage coming to the event with fresh ears, simply bringing one’s curiosity and attention. Rather than presenting primarily factual information on the works to enhance the listener’s experience, the mindful recital instead takes an experiential approach, honing of our awareness of a broader spectrum of our moment-to-moment experience to reveal new perspectives on the process of listening.

Bach-Busoni: “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, BWV 639

Introduction to mindful listening

Rachmaninoff-Kocsis: Vocalise

Embodied awareness and the physiology of listening

Bach: French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812

Perspectives on visual and auditory imagination

Bowen: Fragments from Hans Andersen, Op. 58 & 61 (Selection)

Deconstructing sound and the perception of sonic layers

Namoradze: Etude V, Entwined Threads

Theories of emotion and mindfulness of feeling

Rachmaninoff: Sonata for Piano No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28, II: Lento

Ligeti in Dialogue
with Lukas Ligeti (Electronic Percussion)

Composer-performers Lukas Ligeti (electronic percussion) and Nicolas Namoradze (piano) present “Ligeti in Dialogue” in celebration of the centenary of the birth of György Ligeti (1923-2006). They explore threads passing through his music – from prior influences to works informed by his legacy – in a unique, dialogue-like recital for marimba lumina and piano, presenting an intertwined set of solo and duo performances of the works of J.S. Bach, György Ligeti, Lukas Ligeti and Nicolas Namoradze. The programme also includes new music written for this joint recital, for piano and marimba lumina-piano duo. With their unique viewpoint on one of the past century’s most iconic composers, Ligeti and Namoradze present a compelling retrospective as well as a vivid exploration of the relevance of this musical legacy in the present and future.

with Vadim Gluzman (Violin) & Schumann Quartett (String Quartet)

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 “Quartetto serioso”

Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major

***

Chausson: Concert for Vioin, Piano and String Quartet in D major, Op. 21

2021 / 2022

10.05.2023
20:30 Uhr

CH / Lugano - LAC, Lugano Arte e Cultura Teatro Studio

Nicolas Namoradze

27.05.2023
19:00 Uhr

HU / Budapest - Budapest Music Center

Nicolas Namoradze, Lukas Ligeti

29.05.2023
11:00 Uhr

DE / Neuss-Holzheim - Insel Hombroich

Nicolas Namoradze

Arabesque

Robert Schumann
5 Gesänge der Frühe, Op. 133
Arabesque in C major, Op. 18

Nicolas Namoradze
Arabesque for Piano

Robert Schumann
Humoreske in B-flat major, Op. 20

Nicolas Namoradze
3 Etudes

Steinway, 2022

Bowen: Fragments from Hans Andersen & Studies

York Bowen
Fragments from Hans Andersen, Op. 58/61Concert study for piano No. 1 in G flat major, Op. 9 No. 2

York Bowen
Concert study for piano No. 2 in F major, Op. 32

York Bowen
12 Studies for piano, Op. 46

Hyperion, 2021