Evgeny Kissin

Evgeny Kissin Biography

Evgeny Igorevich Kissin (born October 10, 1971) is a well-known Russian pianist. Kissin was born in Moscow to a Jewish family. At age 11 months, he reportedly was able to hum along to a Bach tune his sister was playing on the piano. At age 6 he commenced his own piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children. He first studied there with Anna Pavlovna Kantor and continues to study with her to this day. At the age of 12, Kissin made his debut with orchestra and the year after that he gave his first recital in Moscow. Kissin's extraordinary talents were made manifest to the international scene in 1984, when he played and recorded Chopin's two piano concertos with the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra. On September 30, 1990, Kissin made his Carnegie Hall recital debut. Among many other masterpieces, he has recorded Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos No. 2 and 3, Mozart's Piano Concertos No. 12 and 20, Brahms' Paganini Variations, and Beethoven Piano Concertos No.2 and 5. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists in the world, with a technically masterful and perfectly nuanced sound. Though his interpretations are regarded by some critics to be overly romantic, he has an electric presence, drawing sell-out crowds and audiences who demand multiple encores wherever he performs. In 2005 Kissin and the conductor-pianist James Levine played a program of Schubert's piano music for four hands in Boston's Symphony Hall and, 4 days later, in Carnegie Hall in New York. The Carnegie Hall performance was recorded live. The recording was released to acclaim by RCA (82876-69282-2).