Nathalia Milstein


Pianist - PPDA 2021 academician

Born in 1995 to a family of musicians, Nathalia Milstein starts the piano at the age of 4 with her father Serguei Milstein and enters his class at the Geneva Conservatory of Music. Nathalia continues her studies at the Geneva Haute Ecole de Musique with Nelson Goerner. After obtaining a Bachelor and Master’s degree with distinction, she moves to Berlin to continue her studies at the Barenboim-Said Akademie with Nelson Goerner. In 2018, still at the Barenboim-Said Akademie, she joins the studio of Sir András Schiff.

Throughout her studies, Nathalia Milstein has received valuable advice from renowned professors and pianists such as Daniel Barenboim, Mikhail Voskressensky, Elena Ashkenazy, Jan Wijn, Enrico Pace or Menahem Pressler.

Nathalia launches her international career in 2015 by winning 1st Prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition and has been since then invited to halls such as the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Zankel Hall (Carnegie Hall) in New York, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin or the Radio France Auditorium in Paris.

Nathalia is a prizewinner of several youth competitions, among others the “Flame” Competition in Paris and the Manchester International Concerto Competition. Later on she became laureate of the 2013 Grand Concours International de Piano in Corbelin (France) and the 2014 Adilia Alieva Piano Competition in Gaillard (France). She was also awarded the Young Soloist Prize by the Médias Francophones Publics in 2017.

Nathalia performs in France and abroad, giving recitals all over Europe, appearing in major festivals such as La Roque d’Anthéron, Flâneries Musicales de Reims, La Folle Journée, New Ross Piano Festival, Lille Piano Festival, Zaubersee Festival or Radio France Festival.

A keen chamber music player, Nathalia also performs regularly with renowned musicians and is invited to international chamber music events, such as the Intonations Festival in Berlin, the West Cork Festival in Ireland, Lavaux Classic in Switzerland, the Schiermonnikoog Festival or the Scaldis Festival in the Netherlands. She also appears on the last CD recording of the Prazak Quartet dedicated to works of Smetana.

For several years she has been playing in duo with her sister violinist Maria Milstein. Besides a busy concert schedule, they have also recorded two albums together – “La Sonate de Vinteuil” (2017) and “Ravel Voyageur” (2019) – both on the French label Mirare and praised by international critics.

In the 2020/21 season, despite a paused cultural life, Nathalia has had the chance to appear on stage with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck and the Geneva Chamber Orchestra with Arie van Beek. In 2021/22 Nathalia will play in various venues across Europe as part of the “Building Bridges” concert season, curated by Sir András Schiff.

Supported by the Safran Foundation (Paris) and the Foundation “Tempo” (Geneva), Nathalia’s debut solo CD, featuring works of Prokofiev and Ravel, is released in 2018 on Mirare. A second thematic album is in the making and will be released in september 2021.