Igor Levit

Probing, intelligent and one of the most accomplished artists of the new generation, Russian-German pianist Igor Levit makes his Seattle debut at Meany Hall. Levit has appeared in major concert halls and music festivals around the world. He’s won several international awards, including second prize at the International Maria Callas Grand Prix and first prize at the International Piano Academy Competition. Recently a member of the BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artist program, Igor Levit is at the beginning of a very promising career. In the words of The New York Times, “A major new pianist has arrived.”

Program:Bach: Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828Schubert: Moments Musicaux, D 780, Op. 94Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, Op. 31, No. 2Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83

CAST

Probing, intelligent and one of the most accomplished artists of the new generation, Russian-German pianist Igor Levit has appeared in major concert halls and music festivals around the world. He’s won several international awards, including second prize at the International Maria Callas Grand Prix and first prize at the International Piano Academy Competition. Recently a member of the BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artist program, Igor Levit is at the beginning of a very promising career. In the words of The New York Times, “A major new pianist has arrived.”

The 2015-16 season introduces Igor Levit’s work on three of the piano literature’s most paramount cyclic works – Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Frederic Rzewski’s variation cycle The People United Will Never Be Defeated. Levit performed all three variation cycles at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper in September before presenting Goldberg in New York’s Park Avenue Armory in collaboration with Marina Abramovic, Diabelli in London’s Wigmore Hall and Rzewski’sThe People in Hamburg and in Birmingham. In October 2015, Sony Classical released Igor Levit’s third solo album for the label featuring all three variation works in cooperation with the Festival Heidelberger Frühling. The season marks the finale of his Beethoven Sonata cycle at the Schubertiade (Austria) spanning over three years and will see him perform all Beethoven sonatas at Tonhalle Düsseldorf. Further solo recitals will bring Igor Levit to the Lucerne Festival, the Musikverein Vienna, Bilbao’s Philharmonic Society and to the US in a multi-city recital tour featuring debuts amongst others with Princeton University, San Francisco Performances, Schubert Club, Spivey Hall, University of Michigan, and with Vancouver Recital Society in his Canadian debut.

The season marks Igor Levit’s debuts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Kirill Petrenko conducting), National Symphony Orchestra (Jiří Bělohlávek), Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich (Bernhard Haitink), and NDR Sinfonieorchester (Thomas Hengelbrock). Return engagements reunite him with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Sir Roger Norrington), Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin (Osmo Vänskä), and the Royal Scottish National Symphony (Thomas Søndergård). In Spring 2016 he will debut with the Irish Chamber Orchestra (Jörg Widman) both in Ireland and at the Festival Heidelberger Frühling – a collaboration that will extend into 2017 featuring Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and three Mozart concerti. Levit continues his close relationship with the Heidelberger Frühling as the Artistic Director of the Festival’s Chamber Music Academy in April 2016.

An avid chamber musician, Igor Levit joins violinist Julia Fischer in presenting all Beethoven Violin Sonatas in three evenings each in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Zurich. At the Schubertiade, he will collaborate with Daniel Müller-Schott in an evening of Beethoven Cello Sonatas. 

An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical, Igor Levit’s debut disc of the five last Beethoven sonatas won the BBC Music Magazine "Newcomer of the Year 2014 Award," the Royal Philharmonic Society’s "Young Artist Award 2014," and the ECHO 2014 for "Solo Recording of the Year (19th Century Music)/Piano." 

Born in Nizhni Nowgorod, Russia in 1987, Igor Levit at age eight moved with his family to Germany where 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. Mr. Levit has studied under the tutelage of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti Raekallio, Bernd Goetze, Lajos Rovatkay, and Hans Leygraf.

As youngest participant in 2005 Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, Igor Levit won the Silver Prize, the Prize for "Best Performer of Chamber Music," the "Audience Favorite" prize, and the prize for "Best Performer of Contemporary Music." Previously, he had won the First Prize of the International Hamamtsu Piano Academy Competition in Japan. Since 2003, Igor Levit has been a scholarship student at Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes as well as at Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.