NEW YORK – Khatia Buniatishvili has been one of the most well-known classical musicians for more than a decade, but she prefers to keep the chatter about her celebrity buried beneath the crescendo of her music and charismatic performances.
“If I start to talk about my charisma, I think it might be the end. It’s like the peak of narcissism, right?” Buniatishvili said bashfully in a recent interview.
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But it’s her command of the stage, combined with her expressive performance energy and glamourous exterior that has made her a household name in classical music. The pianist, born in the country of Georgia, along with a new generation of artists like Icelandic pop-jazz singer and celloist Laufey, French violinist Esther Abrami, Nigerian opera singer Babatunde Akinboboye and even pop superstar Lizzo, a classically trained flutist, are helping remove the elitist stigma often attached to the genre and are attracting millennial and Gen Z audiences.
“I’m the happiest person when I hear that … young people, it’s the movement of life,” said Buniatishvili, a two-time winner of Germany's top award for classical performers, the Opus Klassik. “You can bring new life to them — to composers — thanks to these young people who are listening to it. I think it’s the major achievement you might have in life.”
The 37-year-old French-Georgian, who has collaborated with major mainstream artists like Coldplay and A$AP Rocky, released her sixth solo album Friday, “Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23” with the Academy of St Martin In The Fields chamber orchestra.
Buniatishvili, who first performed with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra at just 6 years old, talked with The Associated Press about notoriety, Mozart, and creating a more level playing field in classical music. The answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: With as much fanfare that surrounds you, why do you shy away from talking about fame? You specifically mentioned narcissism.
BUNIATISHVILI: It’s very easy to become (narcissistic) if you don’t pay attention to it, I think, when you’re an artist because it might seem like everything is around one person, but actually, it’s much more than that. It’s not about one person. It’s about what you leave.
I think it’s a very important thing to give an example to the younger generation also that it’s nice to have a mirror and to have selfies — that’s very nice — but it’s very important not to miss life in those moments.
AP: How did you develop your lifelong connection with the piano?
BUNIATISHVILI: It was there from the very beginning. Like my parents and my sister, they were there when I was born, but also, the piano was there. … Even though I could do different things in life, this was there like my family, and it felt comforting.
AP: What was the recording process like for creating “Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23?”
BUNIATISHVILI: What was special in this recording was that it was with the orchestra, a chamber orchestra, but without conductors — I was directing the orchestra. So, this was a very special feeling because you communicate with the orchestra and you have to be convincing for them because you are not a conductor. ... You have to make them feel what they are actually: quite special and very unique and irreplaceable. And at the same time, you have to achieve your own interpretation.
AP: Why did you choose to create this album without a conductor?
BUNIATISHVILI: I wanted to do something as I felt it. And sometimes conductors, they can help with that. Sometimes they propose something different and you might like it or might not like it. … I really wanted to do it in my way.
AP: What are you most proud of professionally?
BUNIATISHVILI: I’m proud that I achieved — independently from conductors, from male powers or even female. Sometimes I was not invited by the best orchestras in the world. But I would think, “No problem, I’ll play alone.” ... Actually, I achieved my career with my recitals being alone on stage because, often, I was not part of this great power or great systems.
We should work on the equality things because not everybody has this chance. And I guess that’s something we have to work on also in classical music because classical music can be very beautiful, but the system of it can be quite separating.
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Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.