Igor Levit
Biography
Igor Levit has established himself as “one of the essential artists of his generation” (The New Yok Times). The press attests to his performing with a “wealth of meaning without artifice” (Washington Post) leaving the listener “speechless with amazement and admiration” (The Telegraph). In January 2018, Igor Levit was named the Gilmore Artist 2018, and in May 2018, he was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” at the 2018 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. Born in Nizhni Nowgorod in 1987, Igor Levit at age eight moved with his family to Germany. He completed his piano studies at Hannover Academy of Music, Theatre and Media in 2009 with the highest academic and performance scores in the history of the institute. Igor Levit has studied under the tutelage of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti Raekallio, Bernd Goetze, Lajos Rovatkay and Hans Leygraf. As the youngest participant in 2005 Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, Igor Levit won the Silver Prize, as well as the Prize for Best Performer of Chamber Music, the Audience Favorite Prize and the Prize for Best Performer of Contemporary Music. In Berlin, where he makes his home, Igor Levit is playing on a Steinway D Grand Piano kindly given to him by the Trustees of Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells.
Current album
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas
Artists Igor LevitRelease Date: 09/13/2019
Igor Levit’s work on the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas has been the most important endeavour of the past 15 years of his life. This autumn will see his new studio recording of the complete sonata cycle released on Sony Classical on September 13 and represents the recorded testament to almost half his life spent in the study and performance of these sonatas. The release of this momentous 9-album cycle is one of the most eagerly awaited recordings for the 250-year Beethoven anniversary.
No other composer has had such an important influence on Igor Levit’s life as that of Ludwig van Beethoven. He admits that this composer’s music is around him practically every day and in almost everything he does. The profound impact of Beethoven’s music - since his first emotional point-of-no-return with the Missa solemnis at age 13, followed by his first dedicated work on Sonata op. 2/2–has subsequently shaped Levit’s approach to almost all music, whether he is playing Liszt, Shostakovich or Rzewski.
Naturally Beethoven features prominently in Levit’s upcoming calendar – the summit being his performances over the next two seasons of the complete sonata cycle in the Lucerne Festival (launching in August), Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie (launching in September) and Stockholm’s Konserthuset (launching in February 2020). Levit will also present all-sonata recitals, amongst others, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, Chicago Symphony Center and San Francisco Symphony’s Davies Hall in May 2020.
“One of the essential artists of our time” – The New York Times
“Igor Levit guides the public to the heart of Beethoven” – Le Figaro
“These two hands are a complete orchestra! The piano in an exceptional state: Igor Levit offers a shining moment of Beethoven to the Salzburg Festival. What a fantastic evening!” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
