Igor Levit
Levit in 2019
Born	Russian:Игорь Левит (1987-03-10)10 March 1987 (age 38) Gorky,Russian SFSR,Soviet Union
Education	Mozarteum Musikhochschule Hannover
Occupations	Classical pianist Professor
Organizations	Musikhochschule Hannover
Awards	Arthur Rubinstein Competition Beethoven Ring Gilmore Artist Award

Igor Levit (Russian:Игорь Левит; born 10 March 1987)^[1] is a Russian-German pianist who focuses on the works ofBach,Beethoven, andLiszt. He is also a professor at theMusikhochschule Hannover. He lives in Berlin.^[2]

Born in Gorky (nowNizhny Novgorod) to a Jewish family, Levit began playing piano at the age of three. He received piano lessons from his mother Elena Levit, a piano teacher,répétiteur andgrand-disciple ofHeinrich Neuhaus.^[3] As a child, he had his first successes on the concert stage in his hometown. His family moved toHannover in 1995. From 1999 to 2000, he studied at theMozarteum in Salzburg withHans Leygraf and, from 2000 to 2010, at theHochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover withKarl-Heinz Kämmerling,Matti Raekallio andBernd Goetzke [de].^[4]

Levit has appeared in major concert halls and music festivals around the world. During his studies, he won prizes in several international competitions including second prize at the International Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens (2004), first prize at the 9th Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition inHamamatsu (2004),^[5] the second prize at the piano competitionKissinger Klavierolymp (2004),^[6] the silver medal and three other awards at theArthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition inTel Aviv (2005). In October 2011, he appeared in a 45-minute documentary aired on3sat about his love for the music ofFranz Liszt. He was aBBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist from 2011 to 2013.

Levit was appointed to a professorship at theHochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover (Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media) starting in the winter semester 2019/2020.^[7] In 2021, Levit contributed a cover of the Metallica song "Nothing Else Matters" to the charity tribute albumThe Metallica Blacklist.^[8]

• 2009Luitpold Prize for young artists at the FestivalKissinger Sommer inBad Kissingen^[9][10]
• 2017Beethoven Ring^[11]
• 2018Gilmore Artist Award^[12][13]
• 2020Gramophone Classical Music Awards – Artist of the Year^[14] and Instrumental Category Winner (Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas)^[15]
• 1 October 2020Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany^[16]
• 2024Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal^[17]
• 2025Kaiser Otto Prize^[18]

During theCoronavirus pandemic of 2020, Levit began streaming concerts from his home in BerlinMitte.^[2] He posted these to Twitter as a series ofHauskonzerte:^[2][19]

• 12 March 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 ('Waldstein')
• 13 March 2020: Rzewski'sThe People United Will Never Be Defeated!
• 14 March 2020:^[20] Bach'sChaconne in a transcription for left hand by Brahms^[21]
• 15 March 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 ('Appassionata')^[22]
• 17 March 2020:^[23] Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia" ('Moonlight')^[24]
• 18 March 2020: Schubert's "Six moments musicaux"^[25]
• 19 March 2020: Schubert'sPiano Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960^[26]
• 20 March 2020: Schubert'sPiano Sonata in A major, D. 959^[27]
• 21 March 2020: Schumann'sFantasie in C major, Op. 17^[28]
• 22 March 2020: Shostakovich'sPiano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61^[29]
• 23 March 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110^[30]
• 24 March 2020: Arrangements of Bach'sNun komm' der heiden Heiland, BWV 659, andIch ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639; and Busoni'sBerceuse, BV 252, andFantasia nach Johann Sebastian Bach, BV 253^[31]
• 25 March 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31/2 ('Tempest')^[32]
• 28 March 2020:^[33] Mozart'sPiano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570^[34]
• 29 March 2020: Transcriptions of Mahler'sAdagietto, Billy Joel's "And So It Goes", Frederic Rzewski's "A Mensch", and Frederic Weatherly's "Danny Boy"^[35]
• 30 March 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major, Op. 31/3^[36]
• 31 March 2020: Liszt'sSonetto 123 del Petrarca in A-flat major; Brahms'Intermezzo in A major Op. 118/2; and Liszt's transcription of Wagner's"Isoldens Liebestod"^[37]
• 1 April 2020: Schubert'sImpromptu No. 3 in G-flat major andAllegretto in C minor, D. 915; Brahms'Ballade in B major, Op. 10/4^[38]
• 2 April 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 ('Waldstein'), streamed from theSchloss Bellevue concert room^[2][39]
• 3 April 2020: Two of Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words";Jobim's "Luiza"; Schumann's "Du bist wie eine Blume [de]"; andJanis Ian's "Stars"^[40]
• 4 April 2020: Solovyov-Sedoi & Matusovsky's "Moscow Nights"; Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"^[41]
• 5 April 2020: Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons" (except "September")^[42]
• 6 April 2020: Tchaikovsky's "September" (from "The Seasons"); Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ('Pathétique')^[43]
• 7 April 2020: Satie'sGnossienne No. 3 andGymnopédie No. 1; Fred Hersch's "Valentine"; and Beethoven's "Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio" in G major, Op. 129 ('Rage Over a Lost Penny')^[44]
• 8 April 2020: Shostakovich's24 Preludes Op. 34^[45]
• 9 April 2020: Three of Scott Joplin'sRags;^[46] Bolcom's "Graceful Ghost Rag"; Schubert's "Hungarian Melody"; and Curran's "For Cornelius"^[47]
• 10 April 2020: Dessau's "Guernica"; Rzewski's "Which Side Are You On?"; and Cardew'sThälmann Variations^[48]
• 11 April 2020: Liszt's "Il penseroso" in C-sharp minor andDante Sonata in D minor^[49]
• 12 April 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111^[50]
• 13 April 2020: Beethoven'sDiabelli Variations, Op. 120^[51]
• 14 April 2020: Beethoven's6 Variations in F major, Op. 34; andPiano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10/2^[52]
• 15 April 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, Op. 81a ('les Adieux')^[53]
• 17 April 2020:^[54] Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"^[55]
• 18 April 2020: Schumann'sArabeske in C major, Op. 18; transcription^[56] of Mahler'sAdagio fromSymphony No. 10^[57]
• 19 April 2020: Bach's "Contrapunctus I" fromThe Art of Fugue; Busoni'sFantasia contrappuntistica^[58]
• 20 April 2020: Stevenson'sPassacaglia on DSCH^[59]
• 21 April 2020: Alkan'sPrelude No. 8 in A-flat minor, Op. 31 ('The Song of the Madwoman on the Seashore'); Hindemith's "Suite 1922"^[60]
• 22 April 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 ('Appassionata')^[61]
• 23 April 2020: Liszt's "Feierlicher Marsch zum heiligen Gral aus Parsifal", S. 450; Prokofiev'sPiano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83^[62]
• 24 April 2020: Liszt's "O du mein holder Abendstern", S. 444; Prokofiev'sPiano Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29^[63]
• 25 April 2020: Liszt's paraphrase of "Valhalla" (from Wagner'sDas Rheingold); Prokofiev'sPiano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103^[64]
• 26 April 2020: Schumann'sTheme and Variations in E-flat major for piano ('Geistervariationen'); Feldman's "Palais de Mari"^[65]
• 27 April 2020: Reger's "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by J.S. Bach", Op. 81^[66]
• 28 April 2020: Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2^[67]
• 29 April 2020: Three of Mendelssohn'sSongs Without Words; Debussy'sSix épigraphes antiques; Second movement of Schubert'sPiano Sonata in A major, D. 664^[68]
• 30 April 2020: Beethoven'sLändler;^[69] Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109; Chopin'sScherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39^[70]
• 2 May 2020:^[71] Bach'sGoldberg Variations, BWV 988^[72]
• 3 May 2020: Six of Brahms'Choral Preludes, Op. 122 (transcribed byBusoni)^[73]
• 4 May 2020:^[74] Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 16 in G Major, Op. 31/1; Beethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90^[75]
• 24 May 2020:^[76] Ten of Bach'sChorale Preludes (transcribed byBusoni (BV B 27))^[77]

Separately from these concerts, on 30/31 May 2020 Levit gave a solo performance ofVexations by Erik Satie, from a studio in Berlin, over a period of over 15 hours.^[78]

In 2007, when he was 20 years old, Levit released his debut album, a set of Beethoven's piano concertos, with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, conducted byHelmut Müller-Brühl onNaxos records.^[79] In 2013, he released a two-disc set ofLudwig van Beethoven'slate piano sonatas (Nos. 28 to 32), onSony Classical Records.^[80] His second Sony album, a recording ofJohann Sebastian Bach's sixkeyboard partitas, was namedGramophone Magazine's recording of the month for October 2014.^[81][82] His third Sony album, a 3-CD set of Bach'sGoldberg Variations, Beethoven'sDiabelli Variations, andThe People United Will Never Be Defeated! byFrederic Rzewski, was released in October 2015.^[83][84] His fourth album was a 2-CD set released in 2018 entitledLife, including works by Busoni, Bach, Schumann, Rzewski, Wagner, Liszt, and Bill Evans.^[85] It was Levit's response to the death of his best friend, German artistHannes Malte Mahler [de], who died in a bicycle accident in 2016.^[86][87]

His recordings of the complete BeethovenPiano Sonatas were released bySony Classical on 13 September 2019.^[88] Levit was named Gramophone's 2020 Artist of the Year.^[89] His recordingOn DSCH, pairingShostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues Op.87 withRonald Stevenson's epicPassacaglia on DSCH, was issued by Sony in 2021.^[90][91] His other recordings include:

• Levit, Igor (2020),Igor Levit Encounter,OCLC 1199777487 It "feature[s] arrangements by Busoni of chorale preludes by Bach [and by Brahms], Brahms'sVier ernste Gesänge arranged byReger, Reger'sNachtlied arranged by Julian Becker, and finally Palais de Mari,Morton Feldman's final work for solo piano."^[92]
• "Paavo Järvi and Igor Levit perform Beethovens Piano Concerto No. 5 = Paavo Järvi und Igor Levit mit Beethovens Klavierkonzert Nr. 5". 2020.OCLC 1296623187. Retrieved4 August 2022.
• The 2021 Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert : With Daniel Harding and Igor Levit, 2021,OCLC 1334798677
• Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Schumann and Beethoven – With Igor Levit : Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 2021,OCLC 1252973781
• Levit, Igor (2022),Tristan.Tristan features Hans Werner Henze'sTristan, written for piano, electronic tapes, and orchestra; and, arranged for piano, Wagner's prelude toTristan und Isolde and the Adagio from Mahler'sTenth Symphony.^[93]
• Levit, Igor (2023),Fantasia.Fantasia features Bach, Liszt, Alban Berg, and Busoni.^[94]
• Levit, Igor (2024),Brahms. Includes Brahms' two piano concertos withChristian Thielemann and theWiener Philharmoniker, and various solo pieces by Brahms.

• Levit, Igor; Zinnecker, Florian (2022).Hauskonzert (in German). München: btb Verlag.ISBN 978-3-442-77173-8.OCLC 1309075504.
• Levit, Igor; Drake, Carolyn; Grätz, Ronald; Neubauer, Hans-Joachim (2022).Mein Leben mit der Gegenwart ein Gespräch (in German). Göttingen.ISBN 978-3-96999-011-7.OCLC 1309976330.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• Igor Levit, Mein Liszt (in German), 3Sat, 2011,OCLC 918114930
• Igor Levit: No Fear (in German), 2023^[95]

• Swed, Mark (23 April 2015)."He holds 88 keys to the future".The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. p. 23. Retrieved23 May 2020 – viaNewspapers.com.
• Weininger, David (14 August 2016)."Continuous variation".The Boston Globe. Boston. p. N3. Retrieved23 May 2020 – viaNewspapers.com.
• Duke, David Gordon (13 February 2016)."Emerging piano great takes his playlist personally".The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver. p. 65. Retrieved23 May 2020 – viaNewspapers.com.
• Rhein, John von (14 March 2017)."Pianist Igor Levit makes formidable Orchestra Hall debut".Chicago Tribune. Chicago. p. 4-2. Retrieved23 May 2020 – viaNewspapers.com.
• McIntosh, Fergus (20 November 2018)."Close At Hand with the Pianist Igor Levit".The New Yorker. New York City. Retrieved23 May 2020.
• Welscher, Hartmut (19 February 2020)."Winner Takes All".VAN Magazine. Berlin. Archived fromthe original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved28 May 2020.
• Pirich, Carolin; Stuff, Britta (10 September 2020)."Rock Bottom: Navigating the Corona Crisis with Pianist Extraordinaire Igor Levit".Spiegel International. Hamburg. Retrieved15 October 2020.

• Official website
• Igor Levit – An interview with BBC New Generation Artist (2012) onYouTube
• Igor Levit: BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist plays Bach (Chaconne) onYouTube

• 1987 births
• Living people
• Russian classical pianists
• Male classical pianists
• German classical pianists
• Jewish classical pianists
• German people of Russian-Jewish descent
• 20th-century Russian Jews
• 21st-century classical pianists
• Musicians from Nizhny Novgorod
• Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover alumni
• Russian expatriates in Germany
• Mozarteum University Salzburg alumni
• BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists
• 21st-century Russian male musicians
• Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Musicians from Hanover
• Lower Saxony State Prize recipients

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