He was born in Tbilisi (Georgia) in 1931. He began his music studies within his family. He then continued his education with Anastasia Virsaladze at the Conservatory of his hometown and with Alexandre Goldenweiser at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. In 1955, he won the Grand Prize at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Piano Competition in Paris.

From then on, he performed with numerous orchestral ensembles in Europe and North America, including the Israel and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also performed with musical directors of the stature of Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, and Wolfgang Sawallisch, among others.

He has formed a chamber trio with violinist Igor Bezrodny and cellist Mikhail Khomitzer. In 1957, he began his extensive pedagogical activity at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.

He has also taught at the Conservatoire de Paris, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and the Santander Music and Academy Encounter. He has published several studies in Sovetskaya muzïka.

He has been a professor of the Fundación Banco Santander Piano Chair at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid since its foundation in 1991. In June 2019, he received the Emeritus Professor Medal of the School from Her Majesty Queen Sofía.