Daniil Trifonov recent winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition

At just 21 years old, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, the most recent winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition, is zooming into the classical music stratosphere — and with his new album he's out to prove he's here to stay.

 

 Roger Mastroianni /courtesy of the artist Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov — a once-in-a-generation artist at just 21?


... Tchaikovsky Competition chairman Valery Gergiev has become a real mentor to and champion of Trifonov; it's very much worth noting that the last pianist Gergiev took under his wing, was one Evgeny Kissin, back in the mid-1980s. When Trifonov came to New York last October to play at Carnegie Hall with the Mariinsky orchestra and Gergiev, it was a stunning success. The pianist delivered the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto — the piece that has become his international calling card — with fierce power and precision, coupled with a really intense musicality. And Gergiev isn't the only celebrity enamored of Trifonov's playing: In an interview Martha Argerich gave last year, she said, "He has everything and more."

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