“Can one imagine a more beautiful Schumann than the one offered to us this evening by Elisso Virsaladze? A sort of yardstick by which to judge other pianists.” So wrote Sviatoslav Richter in his notebooks following a concert of Schumann and Chopin given by the Georgian pianist Elisso Virsaladze.

Elisso Virsaladze’s deepest love is for the composers of the late 18th and 19th centuries, especially Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann. Coming third in the 1962 Tchaikovsky competition (and going on to take the first prize at the Schumann Competition in Zwickau in 1966), Elisso Virsaladze is well known for her wide repertoire up to and including modern Russian composers.

Elisso Virsaladze regularly performs around the world, both in recital and with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including Ricardo Muti, Rudolf Barschai and Antonio Pappano, with whom she recently performed the Schumann Concerto in Rome to rave reviews.

In her early years she was a student of Heinrich Neuhaus and Yakov Zak. These gifted teachers had not only a deep influence on her artistic development, but also immersed her in the renowned tradition of Russian piano pedagogy. It is therefore not surprising that she is recognised today as an exceptional teacher, and is a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.

The label Live Classics have released a number of recordings which together provide a wide perspective of the musical personality of Elisso Virsaladze.

As Richter said of her performance in another concert: “She’s perhaps the leading female pianist of our day.”