Evgeny Kissin

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Evgeny Igorevich Kissin (Russian: Евге́ний И́горевич Ки́син, Evge'nij I'gorevič Ki'sin) (born October 10, 1971) is a Russian classical pianist.

Kissin was born in Moscow to a Jewish family. At age 11 months, he was reputedly able to hum along to a Bach tune his sister Alla was playing on the piano. At age 6 he commenced his own piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children. There, he became a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who was Kissin's only piano teacher outside of his family.[1]

At the age of 10, Kissin made his debut with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orchestra and the year after that he gave his first recital in Moscow. Kissin's talents were revealed on the international scene in 1984, when he played and recorded Chopin's two piano concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1985, he made his United Kingdom debut, alongside conductor Valery Gergiev and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival. In 1988, he played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic's New Year's Concert. In September, 1990, Kissin made his debut in North America playing Chopin's two piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the first piano recital in Carnegie Hall's centennial season. In 1997, he gave the first solo piano recital in the history of The Proms in London.[2]

Kissin makes regular recital tours of Europe, America and Asia. He has performed with all the leading orchestras of the world under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Mariss Jansons, Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Georg Solti, Evgeny Svetlanov and Yuri Temirkanov. Kissin has also performed chamber music with Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, James Levine, Alexander Knyazev, Mischa Maisky, Thomas Quasthoff, Isaac Stern and others.

In addition to music, Kissin has given recitals of Yiddish and Russian poetry. In 2007 Kissin became Honorary Patron of a professional chamber opera company, City Opera of Vancouver, led by conductor Charles Barber. [3] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content

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[edit] Awards and Recognitions==

Kissin was a special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards.

  • Musical America, Instrumentalist of the Year, 1994
  • Triumph Award, Outstanding Contribution to Russia's Culture (Youngest Awardee), 1997
  • Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music 2001
  • Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music (2005)
  • Herbert von Karajan Award,Baden-Baden, Germany (2005)
  • Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra), 2006
  • Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Award, Brescia, Italy (2007)

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