2006 Grammy®-Award Winner Evgeny Kissin Returns to the Kimmel Center’s Master Musicians Piano Series on April 25
April 12, 2007
"The greatest pianist of his generation, if not several others besides," hailed London’s Independent about Evgeny Kissin
"Chopin’s music has always been close to my heart, even as a child," —Evgeny Kissin
Russian piano virtuoso Evgeny Kissin first caught international attention in 1984 with his legendary performance of Chopin’s Piano Concertos in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory at just 12 years-old. Now Grammy® Award winner Evgeny Kissin returns to the Kimmel Center as part of the Master Musicians Piano Series to perform on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 8pm in Verizon Hall. Most recently, RCA Red Seal record label released Kissin’s live recital in Switzerland of Chopin Polonaises and Impromptus (January 2007). After 10 Grammy® nominations, Kissin also earned his first Grammy® Award in 2006 for Best Instrumental Soloist for his recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner and Stravinsky. The program includes Schubert’s Piano Sonata in E-flat major, D. 568, Op. posth. 122; Beethoven’s 32 Variations on an Original Theme, WoO 80; Brahms’ Piano Pieces, Op. 118; Chopin’s Andante spianato and Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22.
Tickets for Evgeny Kissin are priced at $40, $45, $52, $60, $69 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
Evgeny Kissin’s musicality, depth and poetic quality of his interpretations have placed him at the forefront of the world’s new generation of young pianists. Born in Moscow in October 1971, he began to play the piano at the age of two. At six years-old, 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 of ten, he made his concerto debut playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 466 and gave his first solo recital in Moscow one year later. He came to international attention in 1984 when, at the age of 12, 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. 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. That 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.
Kissin has been the recipient of numerous awards including an Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London (2005), the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize (2005), and the Shostakovich Award, one of Russia’s highest musical honors awarded in Moscow (2003). In 2001 Kissin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music. He was the first pianist to be invited to give a recital at the BBC Proms, and, in the 2000 season, was the first concerto soloist ever to be invited to play in the Proms opening concert.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, National Endowment for the Arts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, ARC Wheeler, The William Penn Foundation, The Wachovia Foundation, Verizon Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
FREE AT THE KIMMEL events are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 | 8pm
Verizon Hall
Master Musicians Series
Evgeny Kissin, piano
SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in E-flat major, D. 568, Op. posth. 122
BEETHOVEN: 32 Variations on an Original Theme, WoO 80
BRAHMS: Piano Pieces, Op. 118
CHOPIN: Andante spianato and Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22
FREE AT THE KIMMEL
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 | 6:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza
Chamber Music Ensemble from Temple University’s School of Music
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