The Pianist Who Is Not Afraid Of “Too Much”

Love, freedom, imagination, respect — to Khatia Buniatishvili, these cannot be measured or limited.

- Zara Zhuang

Khatia Buniatishvili is someone who feels intensely — for the melodies she coaxes out of 88 black and white keys and for human suffering, inequality and injustice. Rather than rein herself in, she dives in wholeheartedly: seated at a grand piano before an orchestra, she brings vigour and intensity to the stage, and her glamour and Romantic expression have earned her sobriquets including “pop star of the classical music world”.

“I’ve always had a lot of temperament, energy, passion, emotions and sensitivity to share... in art and in life,” the French- Georgian pianist tells A Magazine.

“I am never afraid of ‘too much’ — too much love, freedom, imagination or respect, because those things are immaterial and emotional and cannot be measured or limited.”

Buniatishvili’s philosophy is on full display in her latest album Labyrinth, for which she selected wistful and often melancholic pieces by composers from Bach to Brahms. The accompanying music videos, which show the 34-year-old performing hauntingly beautiful renditions of Serge Gainsbourg’s La Javanaise and Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1 in an empty concert hall, exude quiet but fervent strength — an apt reflection in our current climate.