Lilya Zilberstein got her first taste of international success in 1987 when she won the Busoni Competition in Bolzano. Her victory was a sensation – it took five years until the first prize was even awarded again. By 1988, the Moscow-born pianist was able to perform at big tours abroad in the West. Travelling for her concerts took her to almost all of the European countries, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Canada and Brazil.

Lilya Zilberstein started playing the piano at five years old. After twelve years of lessons with Ada Traub at the Gnessin Special Music School in Moscow, she continued studying at the Gnessin Institute under Alexander Satz until she graduated in 1988. In 1985, she won first prize in the Competition of the Russian Federation, and was also one of the prize-winners at the All Union’s Competition in Riga. She emigrated to Germany in 1990. In 1991, Lilya Zilberstein debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, which formed the basis of a long-term cooperation. She performed concerts with many famous international orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, the London Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra della Scala in Milan, the Staatskapelle Dresden, and many others. Alongside Claudio Abbado, she has worked with conductors such as John Axelrod, Paavo Berglund, Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Alun Francis, Leopold Hager, Dmitrij Kitajenko, James Levine, Vassily Sinaisky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jean-Pascal Tortelier, Marcello Viotti and Antoni Wit. In August 1998, she was awarded the ”Accademia Musicale Chigiana” prize in Siena. This accolade has been awarded to, among others, Gidon Kremer, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Krystian Zimerman.

Lilya Zilberstein has recorded eight CDs for Deutsche Grammophon, including recital programmes, the Grieg Piano Concerto (Järvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra) and the Second and Third Piano Concertos by Rachmaninoff (Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra). She also contributed to the first complete CD recording of the Frédéric Chopin oeuvre, which was released by Deutsche Grammophon in 1999. Recently, several more CDs have been released, including a recording of the Brahms sonata for two pianos with Martha Argerich, released by EMI, and Clementi, Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff, released by Hänssler Classic. The pianist is a regular guest in the major concert halls and at the most important festivals all over Europe, the USA, Canada, Asia, South America and the Middle East. A few years ago, she played several world tours as the chamber music partner of Maxim Vengerov. With her duo partner Martha Argerich she celebrated her twenty-five-year anniversary on the stage in 2024.