Irma Issakadze (Piano)

Born: 1976 - Tiflis, Georgia

The Georgian pianist, Irma Issakadze, was born into one of the most distinguished musical families of the former Soviet Union. Her mother gave her her first piano lessons at the tender age of 3, and Irma composed short piano pieces. Following her debut as a soloist at the age of 9 with L.v. Beethoven’s piano concerto No 1 and the Georgian State Orchestra, the young pianist gave concerts with famous orchestras and conductors of the former USSR as well as with her father, the cellist Eldar Issakadze, and her aunt, the violinist Liana Issakadze.
Up to 1990, she was studying in Tbilisi Central Musical School. In 1990 the Issakadze family emigrated to Germany. 14 years old Irma, with a status of "Juvenile Student", was enrolled in Munich High Music School as protégé of the German pianist Ludwig Hoffmann, who encouraged and taught her. She continued her studies with the Russian pianist and pedagogue Vladimir Krainev at the College of Music in Hannover from 1995 (or 1996), successfully graduated from the Hohschulle, and continued her further studies at the Course of Solo Performance, graduating it in 2003 with great success.

Irma Issakadze has continued to prove her extraordinary talent as a soloist in numerous concerts on the international stage in Spain Italy, Germany, Georgia, Switzerland, France and the USA. A number of reviews have compared her to legendary pianists like Glenn Gould and Vladimir Horowitz.

Through collaboration with Natalia Gutman or Daniel Shafran, Irma Issakadze also made her way as a chamber musician. Apart from invitations to international festivals like the Festival Mozart Lille 2004, the International Music Festival Dietzenbach, the Symphonic Summer Riedenburg, the International Music Days Öschelbronn or the Borjomi International Art Festival, where she gives concerts with, among others, Eduard Brunner or Ivan Monigetti, Irma Issakadze performed last season with Radiophilharmonie Hannover of North-German Radio under the baton of Eiji Oue. The concert was recorded and broadcast by North-German Radio.

In August 2004 Irma Issakadze recorded the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) on the Media Hyperium label, Los Angeles, following her first CD with works by J.S. Bach, Franz Liszt and C. Franck. In February 2005 she gave her debut in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which was broadcast live by one of the largest classical channels of California.

"During performing Messiaen "The End of Time"... young pianist Irma Issakadze expressed and disclosed with talent and musical intellectuality the contemporary composition". Mtavari Gazeti - July, 2003

Source: Irma Issakadze Website; Issakadze Festival Website (2003)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2008)

Irma Issakadze: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Irma Issakadze - Pianistin (Official Website) [German/English]
Quintessenz - Artist Management: Irma Issakadze [German/English]

Information Participants (Issakdze Festival)