Lilya Zilberstein

Pianist Lilya Zilberstein has enjoyed a relationship with the Deutsche Grammophon label lasting more than 30 years. She has also recorded for Hänssler Classic, Oehms Classics, and K&K Verlagsanstalt. Zilberstein was born on April 19, 1965, in Moscow. She studied at the Gnessin State Musical College, Moscow’s top educational institution for musically talented young people, from 1971 until 1990. Her primary teachers there were Ada Traub from 1971 to 1983 and then Alexander Satz. Zilberstein won various prizes in the Soviet Union, and then, as that country began to open up in its last years, entered and won the Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy, in 1987. The win brought with a Munich debut in 1988 and soon a contract with Deutsche Grammophon. In 1990, Zilberstein made her recording debut on that label with an album of Brahms works, following with a Chopin album a year later. In 1990, she settled in Hamburg, where she has continued to live with her husband and two sons. Zilberstein has also served on the faculty at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, beginning in 2011. Zilberstein has appeared as a concerto soloist with top-rung ensembles in both Europe and North America, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony, among many others. Her career as a recitalist has been similarly prestigious, including stops in such musical capitals as New York, Berlin, and Prague, among others. Zilberstein has also been a regular at the Peninsula Music Festival in northern Wisconsin. Her recording career remains centered on Deutsche Grammophon, although she has recorded for other German labels. It is centered on mainstream Romantic piano repertory, both Russian and Western European. By the time Zilberstein reissued the 1996 album Liszt Recital on Deutsche Grammophon in 2024, her recording catalog comprised more than 15 releases. ~ James Manheim