Igor Levit

Igor Levit, 2019

Igor Levit [ ˈiɡɔʀ ˈlevɪt ] ( Russian Игорь Левит ; born March 10, 1987 in Gorki , now Nizhny Novgorod) is a Russian-German pianist .

Life

Levit received his first piano instruction at the age of three from his mother Jelena Levit, an opera répétiteur and grandchildren of Heinrich Neuhaus . At the age of four he made his debut as a soloist with an Ecossaise by Ludwig van Beethoven , and gave his first concert at six with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Nizhny Novgorod, Handel's F major piano concerto .

Igor Levit, 2013

In 1995 his family moved from Russia to Hanover , where he attended the Kaiser Wilhelm and Ratsgymnasium . From 1999 Levit took piano lessons with Hans Leygraf for one year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and then began his studies at the newly founded Institute for Early Support for the Musically Gifted (IFF) at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media at the age of 13 . He was later taught at the university by Karl-Heinz Kämmerling , Matti Raekallio and Bernd Goetzke . Levit attributed a great influence on his musical career to his Spiritus Rector , the Hungarian harpsichordist and emeritus professor Lajos Rovatkay , who inspired him for historical performance practice . Supported by the German National Academic Foundation , Levit graduated in 2010. For the concert exam, etc. a. with the Diabelli Variations by Ludwig van Beethoven, Levit received the highest number of points in the history of the university.

Levit has been giving concerts in Europe, the USA and Israel since 2000. He played piano concerts with the English Chamber Orchestra , the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover , the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra , the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra . He made chamber music with Mischa Maisky , Sergei Alexandrowitsch Krylow , Kim Kashkashian , Gavriel Lipkind and Daniel Müller-Schott . Levit played in the piano trio with Maxim Vengerov and Alisa Weilerstein .

Levit has been Professor of Piano at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media since October 2019 .

During the 2020 corona pandemic , Levit gave a series of 52 "house concerts" on Twitter from March 12th . Most of these were broadcast live from his Berlin apartment, one of which took place at the invitation of Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin's Bellevue Palace , where he played Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata . Following this series, he gave a 15-hour live performance of Eric Satie's Vexations on the night of May 30-31, 2020 , which was also broadcast over the Internet.

Political activities

Levit often speaks up on Twitter with political statements in which he speaks against anti-Semitism and the exclusion of refugees, among other things.

In 2014 Levit was awarded an Echo Klassik . In protest against the award of the rappers Farid Bang and Kollegah at the echo award ceremony in 2018 , Levit, who comes from a Jewish family, returned his echo and declared: "Giving anti-Semitic slogans such a platform and awards is unbearable."

In mid-November 2019, he received an email with a death threat. He then published a guest article on December 29, 2019 in the Tagesspiegel under the title Am I afraid? Yes, but not about me . The President of the Bundestag Schäuble then used this as an opportunity to call on all citizens to “put a stop to anti-Semitism in Germany”. The Greens chairman Robert Habeck also paid Levit respect for his contribution.

Levit is a member of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen . In 2019 he supported Fridays for Future with his piano playing on the street.

Press

In 2010 in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Eleonore Büning certified that he was “one of the great pianists of this century” even before his exams. A little later, Wilhelm Sinkovicz called him in the press an “artist who brilliantly solves all technical tricks. Despite all his virtuosity, Levit always makes music full of poetry. ”In October 2011, 3sat broadcast the 45-minute documentary Igor Levit - my Liszt about the pianist and his preference for the music of Franz Liszt . Kai Luehrs-Kaiser explained in 2013 what Levit's talent really was, one could only know in ten years.

Discography (selection)

Chart placements (preliminary) Explanation of the data

Albums

Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas   DE 46 08/30/2013 (1 week) Bach: Partitas   DE 80 05.09.2014 (1 week) Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski   DE 68 10/30/2015 (2 weeks) Life   DE 79 October 12, 2018 (1 week)   CH 95 04/11/2018 (1 week) Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas   DE 24 09/20/2019 (...  where.)   CH 64 09/22/2019 (1 week)

• Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas. Ludwig van Beethoven : Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101 , Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 , Piano Sonata No. 30, Op. 109 in E major , Sonata No. 31, A flat major, Op. 110 , Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, op.111 . ( Sony Classical 2013, recorded between January 2-5 and February 3-5, 2013 in the Siemensvilla in Berlin-Lankwitz.)
• Bach: Partitas. Johann Sebastian Bach : Partita No. 1 in B flat major BWV 825, Partita No. 2 in C minor BWV 826, Partita No. 4 in D major BWV 828, Partita No. 3 in A minor BWV 827, Partita No. . 5 in G major BWV 829, Partita No. 6 in E minor BWV 830. (Sony Classical 2014, recording between January 23rd to 26th and May 8th to 11th, 2014 in room 1 of the Funkhaus Nalepastraße in Berlin.)
• Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski. Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations , Ludwig van Beethoven: Diabelli Variations op.120 , Frederic Rzewski : The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (Sony Classical 2015, recording from August 6th to 9th, 2015 in the Funkhaus Nalepastraße.)
• Life. Works and arrangements by Ferrucio Busoni, Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Frederik Rzewski, Bill Evans (Sony Classical 2018)
• Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas . Complete Piano Sonatas 1 - 32 (Sony Classical 2019)

Awards (selection)

• 2004: 2nd prize at the International Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens
• 2004: 1st prize at the International Hamamatsu Piano Academy Competition in Hamamatsu
• 2004: 2nd prize at the Kissinger Piano Olympics
• 2005: Silver medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, as well as "the special prize for chamber music, the audience prize and the special prize for the best performance of the contemporary compulsory piece"
• 2005: Praetorius Award of the State of Lower Saxony
• 2009: Luitpold Prize at the Kissinger Sommer
• 2013: WEMAG Soloist Prize at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival
• 2013: Young Artist Award from the Royal Philharmonic Society
• 2014: Årets International CD award from the Danish radio station DR P2 for Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas
• 2014: Echo Klassik in the solo recording of the year category for the recording of Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas . On April 16, 2018, Igor Levit returned the award in protest against anti-Semitism
• 2014: German Record Critics' Prize for Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas
• 2014: Newcomer Prize at the BBC Music Magazine Awards
• 2016: Gramophone Award for the recording of Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski
• 2018: Gilmore Artist Award
• 2019: Opus Klassik in the Instrumentalist of the Year category
• 2019: International Beethoven Prize
• 2020: "Gift of Remembrance" by the International Auschwitz Committee

Audio

• The pianist Igor Levit nuances . Music and questions about the person , in conversation with Tanja Runow, Deutschlandfunk October 6, 2019, audio version (1/2 year online)

Films (selection)

• Igor Levit - My Liszt. Documentary (2011), 43:00 min., Director: Andreas Morell , production: AVE Gesellschaft für Fernsehproduktion, first broadcast: October 8, 2011 on 3sat , Germany, table of contents by AVE Gesellschaft für Fernsehproduktion.

Web links

Commons : Igor Levit  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Works by and about Igor Levit in the catalog of the German National Library
• Igor Levit in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• THE! with pianist Igor Levit. In: NDR.de , September 15, 2018.
• Pianist Igor Levit on civil courage: "Passivity is no longer an option" Igor Levit in an interview with Luise Strothmann in Die Tageszeitung (taz) on September 22, 2018.
• Georg Diez : Igor, my friend - thinking about Igor Levit, world star, companion and most political of all pianists. In: Das Magazin No 43, October 27, 2018, pages 10–15.
• Carolin Pirich: "I don't just want to be the man who pushes the buttons". In: DIE ZEIT, No. 39. September 19, 2019, pp. 15-17.
• Hartmut Welscher: The Winner Takes It All. Igor Levit and the rules of the game of attention economy. In: VAN Magazin, February 12, 2020.
• Alex Ross: Igor Levit Is Like No Other Pianist. In: New Yorker, May 11, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kai Luehrs-Kaiser : Igor Levit lost 32 kilos for Beethoven. Die Welt , August 27, 2013, accessed November 13, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Volker Hagedorn: Broken bells. Die Zeit , October 2, 2013, accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
3. ^ Christiane Peitz: Anger and tenderness. Der Tagesspiegel , May 25, 2011, accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
4. ^ Uwe Rademacher: Five years of the KWR Foundation. In: KWR-Stiftung.de , September 21, 2013.
5. ↑ Kai Luehrs-Kaiser : "It changed everything!" Musik & Theater 03/2013, accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Marco Frei: “I don't want to be above the notes.” Pianonews 2/2012, accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Current portrait. German National Academic Foundation , accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
8. ^ Igor Levit, piano, * 1987 in Nizhni Novgorod. Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media , November 11, 2013, accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Christoph Vratz: Let it out. It works as a career accelerator even without a CD. K.WEST Das Kulturmagazin des Westens, accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
10. ^ Home game for Igor Levit. Norddeutscher Rundfunk , accessed on November 13, 2016 . 
11. ^ University of Music, Drama and Media Hanover: HMTM Hanover: Igor Levit becomes professor for piano. Retrieved April 5, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Alex Ross: Igor Levit Is Like No Other Pianist. Retrieved June 26, 2020 (American English). 
13. ^ Fiona Maddocks: Igor Levit: 'These concerts were life-saving for me' . In: The Guardian . May 24, 2020, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed June 26, 2020]).
14. ↑ SWR2, SWR2: A man against loneliness: Igor Levit plays Beethoven with Federal President Steinmeier. Retrieved June 26, 2020 . 
15. ↑ Joshua Barone: 'I Just Let Myself Go': Igor Levit on Surviving a Satie Marathon . In: The New York Times . May 31, 2020, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 26, 2020]).
16. ↑ Felix Zimmermann: Pianist Igor Levit on moral courage: Passivity is no longer an option. In: Die Tageszeitung , September 22, 2018.
17. ↑ After anti-Semitism scandal: pianist Levit returns Echo Prize. Retrieved April 17, 2018 . 
18. ↑ Photo gallery - Image 2 - Echo 2018: These artists give back their trophy. In: Spiegel Online photo gallery. April 17, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2018 . 
19. ↑ Igor Levit: “Am I afraid? Yes, but not about me ” . In: Der Tagesspiegel . December 29, 2019 ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed January 2, 2020]).
20. ↑ ^{a b} »This has to end« Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble calls for a stand against anti-Semitism . In: Jüdische Allgemeine . December 30, 2019 ( juedische-allgemeine.de [accessed January 2, 2020]).
21. ↑ Schliess, Gero: Star pianist Igor Levit: You can't just go to the moon. . In: Deutsche Welle , January 14, 2020, accessed on January 15, 2020.
22. ↑ Deutschlandfunk, September 23, 2019
23. ↑ Eleonore Büning: A great shock. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 3, 2010.
24. ^ Wilhelm Sinkovicz: The high C on the high seas In: Die Presse , September 9, 2010.
25. ↑ Charts DE CH
26. ↑ Dominy Clements: Review. Recording of the month. Musicweb International, accessed November 12, 2016 . 
27. ^ Rob Pennock: Igor Levit plays JS Bach's Partitas, BWV825-830 (Sony Classical). The Classical Source, accessed November 12, 2016 . 
28. ^ Mario-Felix Vogt: Igor Levit. The triathlete. Fono Forum , November 2015, accessed November 12, 2016 . 
29. ↑ Stefan Arndt: Igor Levit and his new CD "Life". Hannoversche Allgemeine , September 28, 2018, accessed on November 20, 2018 . 
30. ↑ This is a dream of the future - Igor Levit plays all Beethoven sonatas. Neue Musikzeitung , September 13, 2019
31. ^ Maria Callas Grand Prix. The Athenaeum Conservatory, accessed November 12, 2016 . 
32. ↑ Levit, Igor. Piano. Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, accessed on November 12, 2016 . 
33. ^ In conversation: the pianist Igor Levit. Westdeutscher Rundfunk Cologne , November 26, 2015, accessed on November 12, 2016 . 
34. ↑ Igor Levit was awarded the WEMAG Soloist Prize. WEMAG , July 18, 2013, accessed on November 12, 2016 . 
35. ^ Young Artists: Past Winners. Royal Philharmonic Society , accessed November 12, 2016 . 
36. ↑ P2 Prisen 2014 - Så er det nu! (No longer available online.) DR P2 , February 7, 2014, archived from the original on November 12, 2016 ; Retrieved November 12, 2016 (Danish). 
37. ↑ Igor Levit on Twitter . In: Twitter . ( twitter.com [accessed April 16, 2018]).
38. ^ Annual award of the PdSK for Igor Levit. German Record Critics' Prize , accessed on November 12, 2016 . 
39. ↑ BBC Music Magazine Awards 2014. Newcomer Award. In: YouTube . BBC Music Magazine, April 10, 2014, accessed November 12, 2016 . 
40. ↑ Igor Levit wins Gramophone's 2016 Recording of the Year Award. Gramophone , September 15, 2016, accessed November 12, 2016 . 
41. ^ Michael Cooper: The Pianist of the Resistance Captures a Surprise Award. The New York Times , January 3, 2018, accessed January 3, 2018 . 
42. ↑ “Opus Klassik” 2019 will be awarded in Berlin , in: Musik heute , October 13, 2019, accessed October 14, 2019
43. ↑ International Beethoven Prize to pianist Igor Levit , in: Zeit online , November 30, 2019
44. ↑ Auschwitz Committee honors Igor Levit. In: rbbKultur . January 8, 2020.