Georgijs Osokins
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«Georgijs Osokins is not only a brilliant pianist, but as well a highly gifted musician, with whom it is a sheer joy to share scores of different authors and styles.» - Gidon Kremer
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Image © Marco Borggreve
Biography
Georgijs Osokins
© Marco Borggreve
In 2025, Georgijs Osokins became the first Baltic pianist to sign an exclusive multi-album agreement with Deutsche Grammophon. His debut recording For Arvo, dedicated to Arvo Pärt and released on the composer's 90th birthday, quickly captured international attention, not least for Osokins' own solo piano transcriptions of the Estonian master's works, among them the iconic Fratres, for which Pärt granted Osokins exclusive authorisation to perform and record. Uniquely, the album also includes Hymn to a Great City for two pianos, performed together with Martha Argerich, the first time Argerich has ever recorded a work by Pärt. The album was named among Apple Music’s Top 10 and Mezzo TV’s Top 5 albums of the month.
The critical response to Osokins' live performances has been no less fervent. After his account of the Chopin Second Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, French critic André Peyregne captured the experience with rare eloquence: «You are about to hear Chopin's Second Concerto for the hundredth time and suddenly, a pianist appears who tells you a new story, who intersperses his discourse with original touches, unprecedented accents, reveals original phrasing, and employs his own unique articulations — and in doing so, exalts the profound meaning of the work. All of this goes straight to your heart. Ah, how beautiful was Osokins' Chopin in Monaco!» This capacity to illuminate the familiar with wholly personal insight is precisely what moved Garrick Ohlsson to write: «Osokins recreated the kind of moments I was lucky enough to hear with Horowitz at his best, which was a link to an earlier time — Rachmaninov, Hofmann, Friedman etc., whom my generation never heard.»
Latvian-born and Berlin-based, Osokins first came to international attention at the age of nineteen through his participation in the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where he rapidly became an audience favourite. His interpretations were described by critics as "revolutionary", "exceptional and unpredictable", and as having "caused something of a sensation" (Harriet Smith, Gramophone). Shortly after the Competition, he made important debuts at the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Lockenhaus Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Music Festival, Salzburg Festival, Pierre-Boulez Saal, Sala Verdi, the Vancouver Playhouse, and Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Hall.
Among the highlights of the current season, Osokins performs the Chopin Second Concerto with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.
Osokins performs on his own bespoke piano bench, designed by Fazioli.
«I regard this young pianist as someone close to me - highly gifted musician. He has big future.» - Gidon Kremer.
«He has a very rare gift of a true Chopinist.» - Sergei Babayan, renowned pianist (teacher of Daniil Trifonov).
«Osokins is a protégé of Gidon Kremer and one understands why. Refined, impeccable technique, musical ideas - simply great piano playing.» - France Musique
“Having caused something of a sensation at the 2015 Warsaw Chopin Competition, he certainly has the requisite mix of agility and grace..» - Harriet Smith, Gramophone
«This young musician is exceptionally talented.» - Dmitri Bashkirov, renowned pedagogue.
«Georgijs Osokins could be take up by now of the major recording companies such as Deutsche Grammophon who would welcome it.» - France Musique.
«Georgijs Osokins arguably delivered up the day’s most strikingly individual interpretations. He won me over with his concentration and control of minute details, such as the long chains of carefully calibrated trills. Indeed, his epic sense of time scale is akin to Emil Gilels.» - Gramophone Magazine during Chopin Competition.
«Osokins differs strongly from the best interprets, whenever it’s Ashkenazy or Trifonov. He is more emotional, penetrates deeper into the world of Rachmaninoff and displays a particularly fine feeling for the typical Russian melancholy without ever sweetening the music» - Remy Franck, 5-star review on pizzicato.lu, 2019.
«Georgijs Osokins is a remarkable pianist»- “Bravo” Magazine Japan, ebravo.jp
«Kombiniert mit so vielen Aha-Momenten wirkte das 1. Klavierkonzert von Schostakowitsch fast berechenbar brav. Als Solist war der junge lettische Pianist Georgijs Osokins gerade deswegen eine sinnige und stimmige Wahl, denn nachdem der sich auf einen arg niedrigen Klavierhocker gefaltet hatte, fand er eine gut funktionierende Balance zwischen den virtuosen Abschnitten und den Anspielungen auf spätromantische Brillanz und berühmte Vorbilder.» - Hamburger Abendblatt, after Georgijs’ debut at Elbphilharmonie with Sergei Nakariakov, 2019.
«Die herausragende Interpretation des Abends ist das Konzert für Klavier, Trompete und Streichorchester von Dmitri Schostakowitsch. Sergei Nakariakov mischt sich mit seiner Trompete unter die Geiger und überlässt dem 24jährigen Georgijs Osokins die Bühne, der bereits 2015 beim Internationalen Chopin-Wettbewerb in Warschau 19 jährig für Aufsehen sorgte. Osokins Spiel beflügelt, die spürbare Freude an der Musik ist auch der jungen Kremerata Baltica anzusehen.» - klassik-begeistert.de by Elzbieta Rydz, after Georgijs’ debut at Elbphilharmonie with Sergei Nakariakov, 2019.
«Eine eminente Begabung für die Musik Rachmaninows. Es fasst sie durchhörbar, federnd elegant und nie fett oder überpedalisiert, was der dichten Textur eines viel zu selten gehörten Opus’ wie den Chopin-Variationen sehr entgegenkommt. Unter Osokins Händen wirkt die Fülle des Satzes fast schlicht und angemessen.» - Matthias Kornemann, Fono Forum Magazine.
«Die bahnbrechende Erscheinung des Abends war aber Osokins. Seine Chopin-Interpretation ist aufsehenerregend. Kein glattpolierter Klang, sondern Kanten und Rhythmik in den Mazurken. Zwei Chopin-Etüden bringen diese Genialität auf den Punkt: Klangarchitektur exquisit, wie aus dem Moment gemeißelt, die "Revolutionsetüde" in beängstigender Dämonie» - Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, Austria 2020.
«A pianist of this individual stamp (and Daniil Trifonov, Evgeni Bozhanov, Benjamin Grosvenor, Federico Colli and Ivo Pogorelich before them) presents the listener with the a conundrum. He raises all sorts of issues concerning fidelity to the score and the limits of interpretation.» - Michael Moran, Australian music critic.
«Osokins' CD-Debüt erweist sich als eine der persönlichsten, gleichsam eine der schlüssigsten und spannendsten Chopin-Veröffentlichungen der letzten Jahre.» (Feindschaft für Musik - www.jpc.de).
«Georgijs Osokins, avec cette alliance surprenante de bravoure et de gravité, avec cette sonorité si rare qui s’unifie autour du bas medium, phrase Chopin ample, tend son discours, et propose souvent des lectures radicales qui étonnent : écoutez seulement la conduite absolument originale qu’il imprime à la si complexe Polonaise-fantaisie, une longue divagation qui pourtant n’oublie pas la forme qui l’autorise. C’était oser beaucoup pour un premier disque Chopin d’aller uniquement aux ultimes opus. Mais que ce soit dans la Sonate en si, dans la si noire Berceuse, dans les Mazurkas de l’opus 59 dont il fait trois mondes en soi, ou dans cette Barcarolle dés le premier accord captivante, tragique plutôt que rêveuse, il affirme avant même que des moyens somptueux des conceptions altières et pourtant murement réfléchies qu’on n’attend pas d’un pianiste si jeune. Et si un futur Grand traçait là ses premiers sillons ? Ecoutez seulement.” (Discophilia - Artalinna.com). - Jean-Charles Hoffelé.
Discography
Hymn to a Great City
Georgijs Osokins (Artist), Martha Argerich (Artist), Arvo Pärt (Composer)
for arvo
Georgijs Osokins (Artist), Arvo Pärt (Composer)
RACHMANINOFF: Chopin Variations, Song Transcriptions
Georgijs Osokins (Artist), Rachmaninoff (Composer)
Chopin: Late Works, Op. 57-61
Georgijs Osokins (Artist), Chopin (Composer)