Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin was born in Moscow in October 1971 and began to play by ear arid improvise on the piano at the age of two. He came to international attention in March 1984 when, at the age of twelve, he performed Chopin's Piano Concertos 1 and 2 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow State Philharmonic under Dmitri Kitaenko. During the next two years, several Kissin performances in Moscow were recorded live and five more LPs were released by the Melodia label.
Kissin's first appearances outside Russia were in 1985 in Eastern Europe, followed a year later by his first tour of Japan. In 1987 he made his West European debut at the Berlin Festival. in 1988 he toured Europe with the Moscow Virtuosi and Vladimir Spivakov and also made his London debut with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. in December of the same year he performed with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in a New Year's concert Which was broadcast internationally, with the performance repeated the following year at the Salzburg Easter Festival. Audio and video recordings of the New Year's concert were made by Deutsche Grammophon.
In 1990 Kissin made his first appearance at the BRC Promenade Concerts in London and that same year made his North Amencan 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, which was recorded live by BMG Classics.
Musical awards and tributes from around the world have been showered upon Kissin. In 1987 he received the Crystal Prize of the Osaka Symphony Hall for the best performance of the year 1986 (which was his first performance in Japan). In 1991 he received the Musician of the Year Prize from the Chigiana Academy of Music in Siena, Italy. He was special guest at the 1992 Gram my Awards Ceremony, boadcast live to an audience estimated at over one billion, and became Musical America ?a youngest Instrumentalist of the Year in 1995. In 1997 he received 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. the youngest-ever awardee. He was the first pianist to be invited to give a recital at the BBC Proms (1997), and, in the 2000 season, was the first concerto soloist ever to be invited to play in the Proms opening concert. In May 2001 Kissin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music. In December 2003 in Moscow, he received the Shostakovich Award, one of Russia ?s highest musical honors. In June 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London He was recently awarded the 2005 Herbert von Jcarajan Music Prize.
Kissin's recordings have also received numerous awards and accolades, including the Edison Klassiek in The Netherlands and the Diapason d'Or and the Grande Pnx of La Nouvelle Academie du Disque in France, as well as awards from music magazines throughout the world.
In 2002 and 2006 Kissin was named Echo Klassik Soloist of the Year. In February 2006 Kissin has won the Grammy award. He received it in the category of the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) for his recording of piano works by Scnabin, Medtner and Stravinsky.
His first studio recording, in 1988 for RCA Red Seal, was of Rachmaninoffs Piano Concerto No. 2 with Valery Gerglev and London Symphony Orchestra, and six Etudes-Tableaux, Op.39.
Kissin's musicality, the depth and poetic quality of his interpretations, and his extraordinary virtuosity have placed him at the forefront of the world's new generation of young pianists. He is in demand the world over, and has appeared with many great conductors, including Abbado, Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Dohnanyi, Giulini, Levine, Maazel, Muti, Ozawa, Svetlanov and Temirkanov, as well as all the world's major orchestras. He makes regular recital tours to the United States, Japan and throughout Europe.
