Pavel Gililov was born in southeastern Ukraine. The boy received his first piano lessons from his father, a music lover and amateur musician. He studied in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) at an academy for highly gifted children. During his studies, Gililov received high honors at the All-Russian Piano Competition in Moscow (1972) and the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1975). He also displayed outstanding abilities as an instructor and after his graduation in 1976 he became the youngest professor of concert piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Pavel Gililov emigrated to the Soviet Republic in 1978 and began a new phase as a performer. He played with the Polish Broadcast Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, Cologne’s Gürzenich Orchestra, the Irish National Orchestra and the Detroit Chamber Orchestra. He has worked with such renowned conductors as Lawrence Foster, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev and James Conlon.

Gililov’s recording career includes albums and CDs for Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Victor, Toshiba EMI, Virgin and Orfeo to name a few. Gililov is a Professor at the Cologne University for Music and Dance, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg where he has instructed a long list of international award-winning musicians. Many of these have gone on to stellar careers. In addition, he is a jury member in many international competitions.

In 2005, Pavel Gililov founded the Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn where he is currently artistic director and jury president.