Zlata Chochieva

Sunday, April 6, 2025 – 3:00 PM

Mairs Concert Hall, Macalester College

“…the possessor of a comprehensive technique who brings an inner glow to every bar… Poetic and pianistic command could hardly go further.”
— Gramophone

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Program

BACH 
Lento from Organ Sonata No. 6 in G Major, BWV 530 (transcr. Bartók)

SCHUMANN 
Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13

CHOPIN 
Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, Op. 54

Intermission

RACHMANINOFF 
Preludes, Op. 23, nos. 4, 7, 9, & 10
Preludes, Op. 32, nos. 3, 5, 6, & 8
Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42

MENDELSSOHN
Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream (arr. Rachmaninoff)

Moscow-born Zlata Chochieva made her first stage appearance at age four and three years later made her orchestral debut in a Mozart concerto in the Grand Hall of Moscow State Conservatory. A protegé of Mikhail Pletnev at Central Special Music School, she also studied with Pavel Nersessian at Moscow State Conservatory. She completed her studies at Mozarteum University of Salzburg with Jacques Rouvier and was subsequently his assistant for several years.

She has played in many of the world’s top concert venues, among them Herkulessaal Munich, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Victoria Hall in Geneva. She has more than fifty concerti in her repertoire and has performed with numerous orchestras, including Russian National Orchestra, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In chamber music, she has worked with notables such as Stephen Kovacevic, Lynn Harrell, Gilles Apap, and Jacquelyn Wagner.

Last season included New York recital debuts at Rockefeller University and the New York’s People’s Symphony Series at Town Hall. She also performed at Duke University, Lee University, San Francisco Herbst Hall, Friends of Chamber Music Miami, and Portland Ovation Series. Her return visit to the Chopin Society in 2025 follows a recital on Carnegie Hall’s Distinguished Debut Series.

Among her critically acclaimed recordings is a release for Piano Classics of the Chopin Etudes named to Gramophone’s list of “50 greatest Chopin recordings.” She now records exclusively for Naïve, and her first release ‘Chiaroscuro’ (May 2022), was a Critic’s Choice in International Piano Magazine. Her disc ‘(re)creations,’ recorded during the pandemic on Accentus, won a German Record Critics’ Award. Her most recent release, ‘Im freien’ (2023), was selected by Gramophone as an Editor’s Choice.

Zlata Chochieva resides in Berlin. A particularly acclaimed interpreter of Rachmaninoff, in 2018 she established the International Festival at Rachmaninoff’s estate in lvanovka and serves as Director.

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“…performances of huge emotional scope and intense drama”

— The Guardian

“Completely void of artificial affectations, and negotiating Chopin’s filigree passagework with effortless, liquid finesse, her performance was a triumph of natural expression and unswerving musicality.”

— The Scotsman

“Her distinctive musical ‘voice’ is heard in the world's top venues, and she has a rare ability to focus the audience's attention, indeed, to make time stand still.”

— San Francisco Classical Voice

“[H]er overall mastery is unbounded. She is entirely at home in the dark, opalescent world of Scriabin’s Tenth Sonata[.]”

— Bryce Morrison, International Piano Magazine

“…the music world is taking notice of this extraordinary artist, who combines the power of Martha Argerich with the tonal sensibility of Mikhail Pletnev–the latter was also her teacher–it is fascinating how she manages to give each voice in a complex interweaving of multiple voices its own colour and intensity.”

— Berliner Morganpost

“Her probing honesty and imagination place the listener in a multi-layered emotional world which is both evolving and immediate, and one simply feels impelled to follow her.”

— Seen and Heard Internationale