Clarinet Pianist
Born in Riga, Latvia, young concert pianist Elina Gotsouliak is one of the most versatile and promising talents of her generation. She received her first musical education in her hometown, where she studied piano and harpsichord at the Latvian Music Academy in Riga. She had already begun attending master classes given by Rudolf Buchbinder in Zurich while studying in Riga and after completing her degree in Latvia studied with him at the Music Academy in Basel, obtaining a Piano Performance degree with honors in 2008. Rudolf Buchbinder has written about her:
“Elina Gotsouliak is an excellent pianist who has a brilliant, smooth technique which she skillfully places at the service of musical interpretation. She also possesses deep knowledge of music, allowing her to choose just the right timbre for each style of music she performs.”
Elina Gotsouliak has won First Prizes at various piano competitions including Concours Musical de France Ginette Gaubert and the Concours International de Piano Maryse Cheilan in France.
Because she feels at home performing on the harpsichord or piano, her repertoire ranges from the early Baroque period all the way to the most recent New Music. She has also gained important musical inspiration from working with Heinz Holliger, György Kurtag, Andrey Jashinski and Alexey Lubimov. During her studies and especially after her success at piano competitions, she began an active career as a concert pianist throughout Europe, performing among others with the Latvian Chamber Orchestra and the Basle Symphony Orchestra.
She has also appeared as a guest artist at international music festivals including Musica Viva, Crescendo Festival in Berlin, Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival (Germany); Swiss Chamber Concerts (Switzerland); J. S. Bach International Chamber Music Festival (Latvia); Berengaria Festival (Cyprus); Slokar Akademie Ljubljana (Slovenia); International Summer Academy in Payerbach, Musik Forum Viktring (Austria); Ibiza (Spanien) and as a chamber music partner of the Swiss Chamber Soloists.
Her solo CD, in celebration of Frederic Chopin’s 200th birthday, which features the composer’s late works and a chamber music CD with François Benda (clarinet), dedicated to Robert and Clara Schumann, were released by Genuin / Artist Consort.
Elina Gotsouliak is teaching at the Music Academy in Basel since 2010.