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Igor Levit

Igor Levit

Born: 10th March 1987, Gorky

Nationality: Russian-German

Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest pianists of the early twenty-first century, Igor Levit was born in Gorky in 1987 but moved to Hanover in 1995, where he subsequently studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien. He made his recording debut on Sony Classical in 2013, with the last four Beethoven sonatas; the album was greeted with widespread critical acclaim, with BBC Music Magazine declaring that ‘those who are searching for perfection can stop here…revelatory experiences like this don’t come often in a lifetime’ and Gramophone describing the recording as ‘a debut of true significance’. Levit won the newcomer of the Year at the 2014 BBC Music Magazine Awards in recognition of the recording; his third album (a triptych of variations by Bach, Beethoven and Rzewski) was Recording of the Year at the 2016 Gramophone Awards, and in 2018 he won the instrumental category of the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.

Passionate and outspoken about political issues, Levit caused controversy in 2017 when he performed Liszt’s transcription of the ‘Ode to Joy’ from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (adopted as the anthem of the European Union) as an unscripted encore at the first night of the BBC Proms, following a performance of the Third Piano Concerto - the concert was the first Prom since the Brexit referendum.

Find out more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Levit

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Further Reading: Igor Levit

Recording of the Week, Igor Levit's Tristan

16th September 2022

Hans Werner Henze's brilliant, baffling set of ‘Preludes for piano, electronic tapes and orchestra’ sits at the heart of this Wagner-inspired recital, which also includes music by Liszt and Mahler via Ronald Stevenson.

Recording of the Week, A moving recital from Igor Levit with music by Bach, Liszt and Wagner

5th October 2018

Igor Levit explores music of transfiguration and transcendence in his Life Album, an eclectic recital of Bach-via-Busoni and Wagner-via-Liszt.

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