Igor Levit

Igor Levit – born in Gorky, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union on March 10, 1987 - is a Russian pianist whose fiery approach to classical music has won high praise from critics and audiences since he began to have success in major competitions. In 2008, the New York Times called him ‘one of the essential artists of his generation’. He completed studies at Germany's Hannover Academy of Music, Theatre and Media in 2009 and went on to garner international attention with what critics called ‘dazzling’ recitals. He was lauded for his 2013 recording Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas: Op. 101, 106, 109, 110, 111, which contained works that are usually attempted by more mature pianists. The album went to Number 24 on Billboard's Classical Albums Chart in 2014 and won the BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society's Young Artist Award and the ECHO Klassik for Solo Recording of the Year. Igor Levit’s Bach: Partitas BWV 825-830 (2014) was a critical success and was named Recording of the Month by Gramophone magazine. 2015’s Bach's Goldberg Variations - Beethoven's Diabelli Variations & Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! was named Recording of the Year and won the Instrumental Award at the 2016 Gramophone Classical Music Awards. His 2017-2018 live season would see him make debuts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras and return engagements with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. Following the death of his best friend, Hannes Malte Mahler, Igor Levit recorded the 2018 album Life. Subsequent highly acclaimed albums include Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas (2019), Encounter (2020), On DSCH (2021) and Tristan (2021).