Dmytro Choni

In June 2022 Dmytro Choni won the Bronze Medal of the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world. He previously garnered international attention by winning numerous top prizes and awards at multiple international competitions including the Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition (Spain, 2018), the Leeds International Piano Competition (Great Britain, 2021) and the Bösendorfer USASU (USA, 2019). Notwithstanding these achievements, Dmytro says: “Being successful for me means to continuously grow as a musician and as a person, and not to stop searching for the truth in music. In my opinion, the most important aspect would be to love the music with all your heart.”

In February 2024 Dmytro Choni made his debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai in Turin, replacing at short notice Yefim Bronfman, performing Brahms’ piano concerto no. 1 conducted by Juraj Valčuha. He started the 2023/24 season with his highly successful recital debut at the Lucerne Festival, followed by his return to the Palau de la Música in Barcelona to open their piano series season and his debut with the Badische Philharmonie Pforzheim and Robin Davis. The start of the season also marked a new partnership with Frank Peter Zimmermann with recitals in among others Munich and various cities in Italy. They also made a start of a first recording together for BIS Records, featuring works by Bartók and Szymanowski.

Dmytro Choni’s debut album was released by Naxos in 2020, containing works from the 20th century by Debussy, Ginastera, Ligeti and Prokofiev. The CD received a “Supersonic Award” by Pizzicato magazine and was highly acclaimed by the international press saying that “Dmytro Choni’s thoroughbred playing already possesses real greatness and ingenious breath” (Pizzicato); “The young man could be one of the 21st century’s most outstanding pianists.” (David’s Review Corner).

Dmytro Choni has appeared as soloist with renowned orchestras across the world and takes part in numerous international festivals. Chamber music also forms an important part of his musical activities. He has collaborated with the Cuarteto Quiroga, Quartetto di Cremona, Calidore String Quartet and with violinists Rudens Turku, Jack Liebeck, Andrej Bielow and Mari Samuelsen, clarinettist Sharon Kam and violist Nils Mönkemeyer. Future highlights include solo recital debuts in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Hannover, in the new Bechstein Hall in London, concerts in various cities in the US, recital tours in Korea and China, as well as his debut with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the close of his residency in the Edesche Concertzaal with recitals with Josef Špaček and Julian Steckel.

Dmytro Choni was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1993. He was four when he received his first piano lessons from Galina Zaslavets. Later, he went on to study in Kyiv with Nina Naiditch and Prof. Yuri Kot and consequently finished his studies with Prof. Dr. Milana Chernyavska at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

This event will feature a preconcert lecture on the evening’s program by Mr. James M. Keller courtesy of the Rosalie Heller Annual Memorial Lecture Endowment held by the Los Alamos Community Foundation. The 30 minute lecture will start an hour before the concert.

Mr. Keller is in his 25th season as Program Annotator of the San Francisco Symphony and is Program Annotator of Santa Fe Opera and the Bravo! Vail Festival. During 25 years with the New York Philharmonic, he occupied an endowed chair as Program Annotator and was Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence. He is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press) and contributed chapters to books including George Crumb and the Alchemy of Sound and Leonard Bernstein, American Original. He spent a decade each as staff writer-editor at The New Yorker and critic-at-large for the Santa Fe New Mexican.