Bourgie Hall presents

Igor Levit, piano

Described by The New York Times as “one of the most essential musicians of his generation,” pianist Igor Levit is in a league of his own. He performs an original program that includes transcriptions of symphonies by Mahler and Beethoven, as well as Brahms’s poignant Opus 119.

Born in Nizhni Novgorod, Igor Levit moved to Germany with his family at the age of eight. He completed his piano studies in Hannover with the highest score in the history of the institute. His teachers included Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti Raekallio, Bernd Goetzke, Lajos Rovatkay and Hans Leygraf. Igor Levit was the youngest participant in the 2005 International Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, where he won silver, the special prize for chamber music, the audience prize and the special prize for the best performance of contemporary pieces.

In 2018 Igor Levit has been named the eighth recipient of the prestigious “Gilmore Artist Award” – conferred only every four years to a classical pianist and recognized as the largest and one of the world’s most distinguished music awards. In spring 2019 Igor Levit was appointed professor for piano at his alma mater, the University of Music, Theatre and Media Hanover. Igor Levit’s 2019 highly-acclaimed first recording of the 32 Beethoven-Sonatas was awarded the Gramophone “Artist of the Year“ Award as well as the Opus Klassik in autumn 2020. Igor Levit is Musical America’s “Recording Artist of the Year 2020”. In June 2022 his Album “On DSCH” has been awarded the “Recording of the Year” Award as well as the Instrumental Award of the BBC Music Magazine. Igor Levit’s new solo album for Sony Classical “Fantasia” is released in September 2023. In spring 2021 Hanser published Igor Levit’s first book “House Concert”, co-authored by Florian Zinnecker followed in Fall 2022 by the release of the feature documentary “Igor Levit – No Fear” in cinemas and on DVD.

In the 2023/24 Igor Levit performs in recital at the Musikverein Vienna, Philharmonie Berlin, La Scala Milan, Carnegie Hall New York, London’s Wigmore Hall as well as in Seoul, Tokyo, Paris, Montréal and Toronto among others. Highlights of Igor Levit’s orchestral season calendar are two cyclic projects – a Bartok cycle with the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester and Alan Gilbert and a Brahms cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic and Christian Thielemann. Also with the Vienna Philharmonic, Igor Levit joins forces for a European tour (Jakub Hrůša) and during the Mozartwoche in Salzburg (Joana Mallwitz). Further orchestral tours in the 2023/24 season see Igor Levit perform with the Orchestra dell’Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Sir Antonio Pappano as well as the Berliner Barock Solisten. Guest engagements include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Staatskapelle Berlin with Elim Chan, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the Cleveland Orchestra with Franz Welser-Möst, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Joanna Mallwitz as well as with the New York Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden.

After a very successful launch of the Piano Fest in 2023, Igor Levit curates the festival’s second edition in May 2024 in collaboration with the Lucerne Festival. Since the 2022-23 season, Igor Levit is the Co-Artistic Director of the Musikfestival Heidelberger Frühling.

Program
MAHLER Adagio from the Symphony No. 10 (arr. for piano by Ronald Stevenson)
BRAHMS Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, “Eroica” (arr. for piano by Franz Liszt)

Monday, March 11, 2024 at 7:30pm
To purchase your tickets visit: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/