As a child, David Khrikuli was obsessed with listening to music of all genres—classical, jazz, modern, some pop. There was a piano in his home: “I remember touching the keys and coming up with specific harmonies on them to express my feelings while knowing absolutely nothing about music. That was the first sign.” He started his formal education when he was 8 and won his first international piano competition at the age of 11. The Tbilisi native has accrued many competition successes in the years following, including first prizes and special awards in Georgia, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, and more. From 2008 to 2015, he attended the Z. Paliashvili Central Music school for Gifted Children, taking lessons with Darejan Tsintsadze and Revaz Tavadze. Since 2020, he’s studied in Madrid at the Reina Sofía School of Music, first with Galina Eguizarova and now with 2001 Cliburn Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch. He has performed with the Georgian Philharmonic, Israel Camerata, Israel Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, and Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, as well as the P. Casals State Quartet and S. Tsintsadze State Quartet.  

David’s approach to performance concentrates on honesty: “You have to forget about yourself. You transmit the feeling of another person to the audience... one of the main parts for me is to feel related to the composer. The composer is expressing feelings that you can relate to. Being honest with yourself and the audience is the key.”