Julia Zilberquit

Russian-born American pianist Julia Zilberquit has earned critical acclaim as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist.  She was praised by The New York Times as "an outstanding soloist" after her Carnegie Hall performance of Cesar Franck's symphonic poem Les Djinns for piano and orchestra with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra in 2012. 

Highlights of the 2013-14 season include the release of her CD, Bach: Complete Solo Keyboard Concertos; Vivaldi–Bach and features the premiere of two Vivaldi – Bach Concerti Grossi arranged by Ms. Zilberquit for piano and orchestra. This recording was released on the Warner Classics label and was hailed as a “gorgeous rendition” by the prestigious Gramophone Magazine.

Ms. Zilberquit made an arrangement of Shostakovich’s Concertino for piano and orchestra and premiered it at Carnegie Hall in 1997. She performed it worldwide to critical acclaim and recorded the Concertino with Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi.

Julia Zilberquit’s other recordings include a solo recording, The Mystery of Bagatelles, released by Naxos in 2007. The CD was praised as a “superb performance” by The Washington Post, and described as an “adventurous program, sparkling with unusual clarity and pointalistic luminescence” in London’s Piano Magazine.  Ms. Zilberquit has also recorded Jewish Music from Russia, featuring works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Slonimsky on the Harmonia Mundi label.

In 2008, Ms. Zilberquit premiered Slonimsky’s, The Jewish Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, which she commissioned. Slonimsky dedicated the piece to Julia Zilberquit and she performed it with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the State of Israel.

Julia Zilberquit has performed under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin at the Beethoven Festival in Vienna. In 2004 Ms. Zilberquit discovered a virtually unknown early piano concerto by Beethoven and performed it in Moscow with Yuri Bashmet and the “Young Russia” orchestra. She has been a guest soloist with numerous orchestras, including The Brooklyn Philharmonic, Russian State Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Symphony, Moscow Soloists, Cairo Symphony, Moscow Virtuosi, Bolshoi Orchestra, Musica Viva, “I Musici de Montréal”, The Russian Philharmonia, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, and Sinfonia Varsovia.

Ms. Zilberquit has given recitals at the world's major halls including New York's Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, and the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Her engagements at major international music festivals include appearances in Seattle, Colmar (France), Klangbogen (Vienna), Valery Gergiev's “White Nights” (St. Petersburg), Richter's “December Nights” (Moscow), “The Palaces of St. Petersburg,” Bard Music Festival in New York, and the Penderecki Festival (Poland).

A native of Moscow, Julia Zilberquit was born into a family of musicians. She graduated from Moscow Gnessin School of Music and The Juilliard School (class of Bella Davidovich). She lives in New York City with her husband, son, and daughter.