Giorgi Latso

Early life and studies

Latso was born in Tbilisi (Georgia) where he started studying the piano at age six. He made his public debut at age eight. He was admitted at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, where he eventually became a pupil of Rusudan Chojava, who had studied under distinguished Russian pianist Alexander Goldenweiser. In 2004 he obtained master's degree at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, Germany and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Later, Latso pursued doctoral studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles under mentoring of Stewart L. Gordon whose teacher was Walter Gieseking.

Career

He has appeared at major festival venues in Salzburg, Vienna, Berlin, Mannheim, Florence, Lisbon, Beijing, Honolulu, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli International Piano Festival and Monte-Carlo Piano Masters, among others, and has performed as a recitalist throughout the world.

After his performance of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto at WUK Kulturhaus he was described in the Austrian press as ...a technically brilliant pianist imbued with a poignant lyricism and genuine profundity. England Rhinegold Classical Magazine said his recording of Debussy's Préludes showed ...extraordinary imagination and a musical tone rarely heard.

Latso composed the score for the film Waltz-Fantasy for which he won an award at the Bologna Film Festival in Italy (2000). His compositions also include Variations on a Theme of J. S. Bach and Cyber Moment for violin and piano.

Among Latso's recordings are Chopin's 24 Études, 24 Preludes and four Scherzos; J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations; Liszt's 12 Transcendental Études; and Debussy's Preludes, Book 2.

He has worked with musicians including Ernest Fleischmann, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Jansug Kakhidze, David L. Wen, Irmina Trynkos, Friedrich Kleinhapl, Ivo Pogorelić, Yundi Li, Freddy Kempf and Joaquín Soriano, etc.

In 2010, he made his Wigmore Hall debut in London, where he premiered his composition Cyber Moment for violin and piano, which was commissioned especially for the occasion.

Latso gave several benefit concerts throughout the world, including held in Guido-Feger Concert Hall under the patronage of Princess Marie Aglaë of Liechtenstein. This event featured the set of 24 Preludes by Chopin and Schuman's Kreisleriana. The Liechtensteiner Volksblatt wrote: "Within the romantic repertoire you can with full justification call him a magnificent pianist and a magician of impeccable technique".

Latso has recorded a CD of the complete works for piano and violin by the Polish-German Jewish composer Ignatz Waghalter for Naxos Records, with the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), Irmina Trynkos and Alexander Walker. In the December 2012 issue of Luxembourgish Pizzicato Magazine the members of the Jury of the International Classical Music Awards awarded this Naxos release a coveted Supersonic designation.

He has given broadcast performances on both radio and television in the United States, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Latso was listed in the 65th edition of Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in American Art 2011. Since 2011 he has been a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.

In 2012, he was invited by Pope Benedict XVI to his residence in Vatican City to perform the Mozart piano concerto No. 21 with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In the same year he made his debut at the Berliner Philharmonie concert hall in Berlin, and debut at the Slovak Philharmonic concert hall in Bratislava in 2014.

In 2013 he was invited by Marie, Princess of Liechtenstein, to move to Vienna, where he currently resides. He gives master classes and lectures at universities nationwide. Latso regularly serves on competition jury panels and has been conference artist for several music teachers associations. Since 2015 he has been a guest professor at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.

Latso has been giving masterclasses for years at some of the world’s prestigious music schools including the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, Mozarteum University of Salzburg, Vienna Conservatory of Music, Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu, University of Southern California, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts etc. His exuberance and positive energy as a teacher makes his masterclasses informative for both audiences and participants. Many of his students are prize winners of international piano competitions.

In 2013 Latso formed The Latsos Piano Duo with his wife Anna Fedorova-Latso. Since then they have been performing four-hands piano recitals and concertos for two pianos worldwide as piano duo and have appeared at musical centers and festivals as well as in scholarly conferences in Europe, Russia, America and Asia.

Influences

Latso has mentioned the following pianists as having inspired him: "Of those whom I heard on the stage I'd like to name first of all Maria João Pires. Judging by the records, it was Rachmaninoff, Sofronitsky, and Lipatti. As to esthetics, I feel most close to Vladimir Horowitz".

Awards

Latso won prizes in the Yehudi Menuhin Federation Competition in Salzburg Austria, at the Young Artist International Piano Competition in Los Angeles, at Ennio Porrino International Competition in Italy, Rubinstein International Competition in France, Beverly Hills National Auditions, etc. He received the Vladimir Spivakov Award (Moscow virtuosi) in 2001, the Georgian Presidential Prize in 1999/2002, the German Marion Dönhoff Trust Award in 2002, DAAD the German Academic Exchange Award in 2004, the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Academic Achievement Recognition of Excellence Award in 2004, Herbert Batliner Trust Award in 2005, the USC Keyboard Studies Department Award in 2007 and 2011, the American philanthropist Carol Hogel Music Scholarship in 2008, H.S.H. Princess Marie Aglaë of Liechtenstein Award in 2009. In January 2013, Latso was honored as a Steinway Artist by Steinway & Sons in New York City.

Teaching career

Latso has presented master classes and concert performances throughout Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, South America and United States. His musical career includes being a concert pianist and collaborative artist, a professor and an international juror. From 2007 until 2010, he served as president to the USC chapter of the MTNA at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. In 2010, Latso served as chairman for the International Piano Performance Examination Committee in Taiwan, (Republic of China). He has taught at the University of Southern California, Azusa Pacific University, at Glendale Community College. He currently holds professorship at the Vienna Prayner Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, Austria.

Recordings

Latso has participated in numerous recordings and television productions, including DVDs and CDs of compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg.

His recordings include:

Performances are available via social networking sites of Latso's interpretation of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21; Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28; Liszt's 12 Transcendental Études, Horowitz's Carmen Variations (White House Edition), Claude Debussy's Préludes (Book II), Sousa-Horowitz-Latsabidze's "The Stars and Stripes Forever".