Georgijs Osokins

Georgijs Osokins first drew notice through his playing at the 2015 Chopin Competition held in Poland, which opened doors to a developing career centered on the works of Chopin. Born in Riga, Latvia's capital, on April 25, 1995, Osokins received his initial training from his father, the prominent Latvian pianist and teacher Sergejs Osokins. Along with his brother Andrejs Osokins, the three family members have appeared in concerts and made recordings under the name Three Osokins. He also worked with instructor Mikhail Voskresensky. At the age of ten, he made his first public appearance alongside the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. In 2009, he earned top honors at the Alexander Scriabin International Competition in Paris, followed by another major award at the International Moscow Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in 2014. The year 2015 saw Osokins participating in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Although he received no award, the daring and divisive nature of his interpretations led to engagements at the Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw as well as performances in Japan. That same year, he went to New York's Juilliard School to study under Sergei Babayan. Subsequent training took place with Georg Friedrich Schenck in Germany, and he received instruction from András Dmitri Bashkirov and Oleg Maisenberg. Osokins has presented solo programs across the United States, Russia, and various European venues, among them the renowned Berlin Konzerthaus. Beginning in 2018, he started working with violinist Gidon Kremer. Both Osokins and pianist Lucas Debargue became the inaugural permanent guest artists with Kremer's Kremerata Baltica orchestra. Additional concerto engagements have included appearances with the Taiwan Philharmonic, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, and Poland's Sinfonietta Cracovia. Recordings from his Chopin Competition performances came out on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute label in 2016. Two recital discs followed on Piano Classics, one devoted to Chopin's late compositions and the other to Rachmaninov's music. In 2020, the Accentus label issued a recording featuring Osokins together with Kremer and cellist Giedré Dirvanauskaité, presenting uncommon trios by Chopin and Beethoven, including the Carl Reinecke trio arrangement of the Triple Concerto, Op. 56. Osokins carries his specially crafted piano bench on his travels.