Born in 1987 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Khatia Buniatishvili began studying piano under her mother at the age of three. She gave her first concert with Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra when she was 6 and appeared internationally at age 10. She studied in Tbilisi with Tengiz Amirejibi and in Vienna with Oleg Maisenberg at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Her older sister, Gvantsa Buniatishvili, is also a pianist, and they have played together on numerous occasions.