RECITAL
Carnegie Hall
Evgeny Kissin - Piano
Our goal in coming to New York has been to see the best and hear the best. Tonight was a special evening.
The pianist tonight is at the top of the list of pianists. Then, just to add to the evening, Carolyn sat directly across the aisle, 5 feet, from Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov. On the way out of Carnegie Hall, he held the door for Carolyn and several other ladies. Big fun!
“So compelling is Evgeny Kissin’s pianism,” writes The Times(London), “so fresh his response to even the most familiar phrases that one hangs on every note.” The stellar pianist has proven that he is one of the greatest interpreters of our time, and there is always a sense of excitement and anticipation leading up to one of his recitals—especially those at Carnegie Hall.
SCHUBERT Piano Sonata in D Major, D. 850
SCRIABIN Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 19
SCRIABIN Etude in F-sharp Minor, Op. 8, No. 2
SCRIABIN Etude in B Major, Op. 8, No. 4
SCRIABIN Etude in E Major, Op. 8, No. 5
SCRIABIN Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 8, No. 8
SCRIABIN Etude in G-sharp Minor, Op. 8, No. 9
SCRIABIN Etude in B-flat Minor, Op. 8, No. 11
SCRIABIN Etude in D-sharp Minor, Op. 8, No. 12
Mr. Kissin was born in Moscow in October 1971. He began to play by ear and improvise on the piano at the age of two. At six years old, he entered a special school for gifted children, Moscow's Gnessin School of Music, where he was a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who has been his only teacher. At the age of 10, he made his concerto debut, playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466, and gave his first solo recital in Moscow one year later. He came to international attention in March 1984 when, at the age of 12, he performed Chopin's First and Second piano concertos in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow State Philharmonic under Dmitri Kitaenko. This concert was recorded live by Melodia, and a two-LP album was released the following year. Given the astounding success of this recording, Melodia proceeded to release five more LPs of live performances in Moscow over the following two years.
In 1990, Mr. Kissin made his North American debut, performing both Chopin piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta. The following week, he opened Carnegie Hall's centennial season with a spectacular debut recital, recorded live by BMG Classics.
Musical awards and accolades from around the world have been generously bestowed upon Mr. Kissin over the years. He was special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards ceremony, broadcast live to an audience estimated to be larger than one billion, and three years later became Musical America's youngest-ever Instrumentalist of the Year. He has also received an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music, the Shostakovich Award (one of Russia's highest musical honors), and an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mr. Kissin's recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky (RCA Red Seal) won him a Grammy Award in 2006, and he won another Grammy in 2010 for his recording of Prokofiev's Second and Third piano concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (EMI Classics).
Mr. Kissin was born in Moscow in October 1971. He began to play by ear and improvise on the piano at the age of two. At six years old, he entered a special school for gifted children, Moscow's Gnessin School of Music, where he was a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who has been his only teacher. At the age of 10, he made his concerto debut, playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466, and gave his first solo recital in Moscow one year later. He came to international attention in March 1984 when, at the age of 12, he performed Chopin's First and Second piano concertos in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow State Philharmonic under Dmitri Kitaenko. This concert was recorded live by Melodia, and a two-LP album was released the following year. Given the astounding success of this recording, Melodia proceeded to release five more LPs of live performances in Moscow over the following two years.
In 1990, Mr. Kissin made his North American debut, performing both Chopin piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta. The following week, he opened Carnegie Hall's centennial season with a spectacular debut recital, recorded live by BMG Classics.
Musical awards and accolades from around the world have been generously bestowed upon Mr. Kissin over the years. He was special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards ceremony, broadcast live to an audience estimated to be larger than one billion, and three years later became Musical America's youngest-ever Instrumentalist of the Year. He has also received an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music, the Shostakovich Award (one of Russia's highest musical honors), and an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mr. Kissin's recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky (RCA Red Seal) won him a Grammy Award in 2006, and he won another Grammy in 2010 for his recording of Prokofiev's Second and Third piano concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (EMI Classics).
In 1990, Mr. Kissin made his North American debut, performing both Chopin piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta. The following week, he opened Carnegie Hall's centennial season with a spectacular debut recital, recorded live by BMG Classics.
Musical awards and accolades from around the world have been generously bestowed upon Mr. Kissin over the years. He was special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards ceremony, broadcast live to an audience estimated to be larger than one billion, and three years later became Musical America's youngest-ever Instrumentalist of the Year. He has also received an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music, the Shostakovich Award (one of Russia's highest musical honors), and an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mr. Kissin's recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky (RCA Red Seal) won him a Grammy Award in 2006, and he won another Grammy in 2010 for his recording of Prokofiev's Second and Third piano concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (EMI Classics).
Musical awards and accolades from around the world have been generously bestowed upon Mr. Kissin over the years. He was special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards ceremony, broadcast live to an audience estimated to be larger than one billion, and three years later became Musical America's youngest-ever Instrumentalist of the Year. He has also received an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music, the Shostakovich Award (one of Russia's highest musical honors), and an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mr. Kissin's recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky (RCA Red Seal) won him a Grammy Award in 2006, and he won another Grammy in 2010 for his recording of Prokofiev's Second and Third piano concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (EMI Classics).
Evgeny Kissin's musicality, the depth and poetic quality of his interpretations, and his extraordinary virtuosity have earned him the veneration and admiration deserved only by one of the most gifted classical pianists of his generation and, arguably, generations past. He is in demand the world over, and has appeared with many of the world's great conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph von Dohnányi, Carlo Maria Giulini, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, and Seiji Ozawa, as well as all the great orchestras of the world.
