About this Artist

Grammy-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov is a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of wonder. He won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo with Transcendental, the Liszt collection that marked his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist.

In 2024/25, Trifonov undertook season-long artistic residencies with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. A highlight of his Chicago residency was Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto with incoming music director Klaus Mäkelä, and his Czech tenure featured Dvořák’s concerto with Semyon Bychkov at season-opening concerts in Prague, Toronto, and at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Trifonov also opened the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra’s season with Mozart’s 25th Piano Concerto under Andris Nelsons; performed Prokofiev’s Second with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen; reprised Dvořák’s concerto for a European tour with Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony; played Ravel’s G-major Concerto with Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Alan Gilbert; and joined Rafael Payare and the Montreal Symphony for concertos by Schumann and Beethoven on a major eight-city European tour. In recital, Trifonov appeared twice more at Carnegie Hall as part of two US tours: a solo program and with violinist Leonidas Kavakos. Released in fall 2024, My American Story, the pianist’s Deutsche Grammophon double album, pairs solo pieces with concertos by Gershwin and Mason Bates.

Trifonov’s Deutsche Grammophon discography includes the Grammy-nominated live recording of his Carnegie recital debut; Chopin Evocations; Silver Age, for which he received Opus Klassik’s Instrumentalist of the Year/Piano award; the best-selling, Grammy-nominated double album Bach: The Art of Life; and three volumes of Rachmaninoff works with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, of which two received Grammy nominations and the third won BBC Music’s 2019 Concerto Recording of the Year. Trifonov was named Gramophone’s 2016 Artist of the Year and Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year. He was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2021.

During the 2010/11 season, Trifonov won medals at three of the music world’s most prestigious competitions: Third Prize in Warsaw’s Chopin Competition, First Prize in Tel Aviv’s Rubinstein Competition, and both First Prize and Grand Prix in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. He studied with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.