Zlata Chochieva

“I can think of few piano recitals finer than this.” – Seen and Heard International, November 2019

ZLATA CHOCHIEVA first came to international attention with her highly-praised recordings of works by Chopin and Rachmaninov. Displaying a deep affinity with these composers, combined with probing honesty and imagination, they have established her as a distinctive voice amongst pianists. Hailed by Gramophone as “the possessor of a comprehensive technique who brings an inner glow to every bar”, Zlata Chochieva appears regularly at many prestigious concert halls, festivals and with major orchestras and conductors.

In the 21/22 season, Zlata returned to the Aachen Symphony Orchestra after having been “Artist in Focus” there in the 19/20 season. She performed on the Serate Musicale series in Milan and Berlin Klavierfestival at the Konzerthaus, and visited Tilburg, Linz, Singapore, and the U.S.

In 20/21, Zlata performed online concerts recorded in Berlin, and live performances included chamber music at the Gryt Festival in Sweden and Rosendal Festival in Norway as well as joining the Camerata Venia in Geneva, and giving recitals in Nizhny Novgorod and Perm in Russia. She also joined the esteemed adjudication panel for the 15th Geza Anda Competition in Zurich.

Highlights of previous seasons include her Wigmore Hall debut, as well as performances in Russia with the Svetlanov State Orchestra and the National Philharmonic. Furthermore, she was guest artist in the Serate Musicali series in Milan and at Zaubersee Festival Lucerne. In the 2019/20 season Zlata made her debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as well as recital debuts at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Vancouver Chopin Society, and at the Brussels Chopin Days. At the invitation of film director Jan Schmidt-Garre, Zlata performed two online concerts in the series “Home Music Berlin. Concerts in Quarantine” at the Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin. She also participated in the online “Moments Musicaux” of the Berliner Klavierfestival, digitally streamed from the Konzerthaus Berlin.

Zlata has appeared at many of the world’s most notable concert halls including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Philharmonie de Paris, Grand Hall of Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, Casa da Música 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 Slovak Radio Symphony. Conductors Zlata 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, the Gilmore Keyboard Festival (as a Gilmore Rising Star in the 2017-18 season), the “Rarities of Piano Music” in Husum, and the Lugano festival “Il Progetto Martha Argerich”.

Signing exclusively with Paris-based Naïve records, she releases her first album on the label in May 2022 - a delightful combination of Mozart and Scriabin, in this, Scriabin’s 150th anniversary year. Zlata’s previous disc (re)creations, released to critical acclaim in February 2021 on Accentus, is a collection of piano transcriptions by three pianists and composers – Rachmaninov, Liszt and Friedman. It has received rave reviews and nominated for a number of awards including an Opus Klassik Award and the Schallplattenkritik award which she won in the keyboard category. Her Chopin Complete Etudes disc for Piano Classics was selected as an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, and included in Gramophone’s list of 10 greatest Chopin recordings: “It is certainly one of the most consistently inspired, masterfully executed and beautiful-sounding versions I can recall.” (Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone). Her 2015 CD of the Complete Etudes-Tableaux of Rachmaninov has likewise earned acclaimed reviews and been nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award.

Over the years Zlata has acquired many international competition prizes, including Szymanovsky International Competition (Poland), Tivoli Piano Competition (Denmark), Mozart Prize at ARD Competition (Germany), First prizes at Frechilla-Zuloaga Competition (Spain) and Alberto Fano Piano Competition (Italy), and Silver Medal at the First International Piano Competition of Santa Catarina (Brazil), where she was also declared Best Performer of Chopin and Audience Favourite.

Zlata 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.

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