On 3 October, the jury and the audience chose the winners of the KlavierOlymp 2021. This year's winner of the competition for young pianists in Bad Kissingen, Germany's most famous spa town, is Giorgi Gigashvili. This year, for the 19th time, six outstanding young talents from five nations presented themselves to an expert jury and the interested public, who awarded three prizes and an audience prize.

Giorgi Gigashvili is the winner of the 19th Kissingen PianoOlymp. This was announced by the new artistic director Alexander Steinbeis on behalf of the expert jury after the final concert on 3 October. The 20-year-old pianist from Georgia convinced the jury with his individual, highly musical and structurally conscious interpretations of works by Chopin, Messiaen, Scarlatti and Shostakovich. He demonstrated unconditional creative will and captivated the audience with his natural stage presence. Sandro Nebieridze, also from Georgia, was awarded second prize. The jury was impressed by his crystal-clear, virtuoso creative power. The third prize was awarded to 26-year-old Gustav Piekut from Denmark. The audience prize was also awarded to Giorgi Gigashvili. Other pianists in the competition were Dmytro Choni (Ukraine), Josefa Schmidt (Germany) and Xiaolu Zang (China).

Giorgi Gigashvili already has a rich concert career and performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician. He works with various orchestras and participates in various festivals and master classes worldwide. He has recently performed at the Salle Cortot, Paris, and with the Filharmonia Bałtycka at the Philharmonie Gdansk. He is studying with the Georgian pianist and teacher Revaz Tavadze at the Tbilisi Conservatory. His awards include 1st prize at the Lloret de Mar International Competition "Fiestalonia Milenio" (Spain, 2013), 1st prize at the IV Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Young Pianists (Tbilisi, 2015), 3rd prize at the International Chopin Competition in Estonia (2016), 2nd prize at the 6th Tbilisi International Piano Competition (2017), 1st prize as well as the Nelson Freire Special Prize at the III. International Piano Competition of Vigo (Martha Argerich Edition, 2019), the 3rd as well as the Audience Prize at the International Piano Competition Ferruccio Busoni (Bolzano, 2019). He was awarded the Hortense Anda-Bührle Promotional Prize for one of the youngest participants by the Géza Anda Foundation at the 15th Concours Géza Anda 2021 in Zurich.

On the one hand, the successful participants of the competition can be experienced in the programme of the Kissinger Sommer 2022, on the other hand, they are supported on their career path through cooperation with other organisers and the arrangement of further performances. The final concert of the KlavierOlymp was recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk and will be broadcast on 16 October at 15:05 on BR-Klassik.

As part of the Kissinger KlavierOlymp 2021, six highly talented young pianists aged 20 to 28 from five countries presented themselves to the audience and a jury of four, consisting of Manuel Brug (music critic Die Welt), Ulrich Hauschild (manager Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks), Sonia Simmenauer (managing director Impresariat Simmenauer) and Alexander Steinbeis (artistic director Kissinger Sommer). The solo recitals with programmes of their own choice took place in the Rossini Hall, the joint final concert in the Max Littmann Hall in Bad Kissingen.

Despite restrictions due to the Corona pandemic, the 19th Kissinger KlavierOlymp was able to continue its successful concept again this year and, with almost 1,500 tickets sold, enthuse numerous concert guests for the new generation of pianists. This corresponds to an increase in concert attendance of 30% compared to the previous record year of 2019.

This is an overview of the award winners of the Kissinger Piano Olympics so far. Many artists have laid the groundwork for their careers here in Bad Kissingen. Numerous pianists rose up to be stars of classical music through the Kissinger Piano Olympics such as Igor Levit, Michail Lifits, Herbert Schuch and Kit Armstrong.