Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov has been named the Gramophone “Artist of the Year” for 2016, as announced at the Gramophone Awards at London’s St. Johns, Smith Square on September 15. The “Artist of the Year” award is the only Gramophone prize decided by international public vote, and recent winners have included conductor Paavo Järvi, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, tenor Joseph Calleja, and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. After learning of the win, Trifonov said, “I couldn’t be happier about receiving the publicly-voted Gramophone award. The attention of this audience, based in our shared love for classical music, means so much to me. Many thanks!”

The 25-year-old pianist accepted his Artist of the Year award with a videotaped speech from Tel Aviv. In his Gramophone citation, Stephen Plaistow said: “It has been claimed that among pianists a talent such as his is a phenomenon that appears no more than two or three times in a generation, if that. In the five years since winning the Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky competitions Trifonov has made a successful career on terms that are his own and established himself everywhere as someone we shall always want to hear.”

On September 22 Trifonov embarks on a European tour with the Filarmonica della Scala under the direction of Riccardo Chailly, followed by recitals in Germany and his debut in the Berliner Philharmoniker Piano Series. He then travels to Chicago for the gala finale of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 125th Anniversary Celebration. He plays Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto under the baton of Riccardo Muti, in a recreation of the very first program of the CSO’s history, performed on October 16 and 17, 1891.