Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin was born in Moscow in October 1971, and began to play by ear and improvise on the piano at the age of 2. At age 6, he entered a special school for gifted children, the Moscow Gnessin School of Music, where he was a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who has remained his only teacher. At the age 10, he made his concerto debut, playing Mozart’s D-Minor Concerto, 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 Piano Concertos nos. 1 and 2 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow Philharmonic under Dmitri Kitaenko.
Mr. Kissin’s first appearances outside Russia took place in 1985 in Eastern Europe, followed a year later by his first tour of Japan. In 1988, he performed with Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker in a New Year’s concert that was broadcast internationally. In 1990, Mr. Kissin made his first appearance at the BBC Proms in London; that same year, he made his North American debut, performing both Chopin 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 tributes from around the world have been showered upon Mr. Kissin. He received the Crystal Prize of the Osaka Symphony Hall for the best performance of the year in 1986 (which was his first performance in Japan). In 1991, he received the Musician of the Year Prize from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He was special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards, broadcast live to an audience estimated at over one billion, and became Musical America’s youngest Instrumentalist of the Year in 1995. In 1997, he became the youngest recipient of the prestigious Triumph Award for his outstanding contribution to Russia’s culture, one of the highest cultural honors to be awarded in the Russian Republic. Mr. Kissin has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Manhattan School of Music; the Shostakovich Award, one of Russia’s highest musical honors; an honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London; and most recently, an honorary doctorate from the University of Hong Kong.
Mr. Kissin’s recordings have received numerous awards and accolades, including the Edison Klassiek in the Netherlands, and the Diapason d’Or and the Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque in France. His recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky won him a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Instrumental Soloist, and in 2002, he was named Echo Klassik Soloist of the Year. His most recent Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with orchestra) was awarded in 2010 for his EMI Classics recording of Prokofiev’s Concertos nos. 2 and 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Christopher Nupen’s documentary film Evgeny Kissin: The Gift of Music was released in 2000 on video and DVD by RCA Red Seal.
Mr. Kissin’s 2010–2011 season features engagements in major cities across Europe, including London, Milan, Paris, Salzburg, and Vienna. Mr. Kissin embarks on a North American tour with recitals at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center, and Symphony Hall; orchestral appearances with The MET Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra; and chamber music concerts with Yuri Bashmet at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center, and Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
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