Igor Levit

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Russian-German pianist (born 1987)

title: "Igor Levit" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "Russian-German pianist (born 1987)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Levit" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Russian-German pianist (born 1987) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameIgor Levit
image190514 KultAb 13 (cropped).jpg
captionLevit in 2019
birth_name
birth_date
birth_placeGorky, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
education{{plainlist
occupation{{plainlist
organizationsMusikhochschule Hannover
awards{{plainlist
::

| name = Igor Levit | image = 190514 KultAb 13 (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Levit in 2019 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Gorky, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | death_date = | death_place = | education = {{plainlist|

Biography

Born in Gorky (now Nizhny 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 and grand-disciple of Heinrich Neuhaus. As a child, he had his first successes on the concert stage in his hometown. His family moved to Hannover in 1995. From 1999 to 2000, he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Hans Leygraf and, from 2000 to 2010, at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti Raekallio and .

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 in Hamamatsu (2004), the second prize at the piano competition Kissinger Klavierolymp (2004), the silver medal and three other awards at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv (2005). In October 2011, he appeared in a 45-minute documentary aired on 3sat about his love for the music of Franz Liszt. He was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist from 2011 to 2013.

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

Awards

''Hauskonzerte''

During the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, Levit began streaming concerts from his home in Berlin Mitte. He posted these to Twitter as a series of Hauskonzerte:

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

Discography

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 by Helmut Müller-Brühl on Naxos records. In 2013, he released a two-disc set of Ludwig van Beethoven's late piano sonatas (Nos. 28 to 32), on Sony Classical Records. His second Sony album, a recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's six keyboard partitas, was named Gramophone Magazine's recording of the month for October 2014. His third Sony album, a 3-CD set of Bach's Goldberg Variations, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, and The People United Will Never Be Defeated! by Frederic Rzewski, was released in October 2015. His fourth album was a 2-CD set released in 2018 entitled Life, including works by Busoni, Bach, Schumann, Rzewski, Wagner, Liszt, and Bill Evans. It was Levit's response to the death of his best friend, German artist , who died in a bicycle accident in 2016.

His recordings of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas were released by Sony Classical on 13 September 2019. Levit was named Gramophone's 2020 Artist of the Year. His recording On DSCH, pairing Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues Op.87 with Ronald Stevenson's epic Passacaglia on DSCH, was issued by Sony in 2021. His other recordings include:

  • It "feature[s] arrangements by Busoni of chorale preludes by Bach [and by Brahms], Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge arranged by Reger, Reger's Nachtlied arranged by Julian Becker, and finally Palais de Mari, Morton Feldman's final work for solo piano."
  • . Tristan features Hans Werner Henze's Tristan, written for piano, electronic tapes, and orchestra; and, arranged for piano, Wagner's prelude to Tristan und Isolde and the Adagio from Mahler's Tenth Symphony.
  • . Fantasia features Bach, Liszt, Alban Berg, and Busoni.
  • . Includes Brahms' two piano concertos with Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker, and various solo pieces by Brahms.

Albums

::data[format=table]

YearTitleRecord label
2007Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1–5Naxos
2013Beethoven: The Late Piano SonatasSony Classical
2014Bach PartitasSony Classical
2015Bach Beethoven RzewskiSony Classical
2018LifeSony Classical
2019Beethoven: The Complete Piano SonatasSony Classical
2020EncounterSony Classical
2021On DSCHSony Classical
2022TristanSony Classical
2023FantasiaSony Classical
2023Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne WorteSony Classical
2024Brahms: Concertos, etc.Sony Classical
::

Writings

Film

  • Igor Levit: No Fear (in German), 2023

References

References

  1. Swed, Mark. (23 April 2015). "Review: Igor Levit, the best Russian pianist you haven't heard...yet". [[The Los Angeles Times]].
  2. Ross, Alex. (11 May 2020). "Igor Levit Is Like No Other Pianist".
  3. Luehrs-Kaiser, Kai. (2013-08-27). "Klavier-Virtuose: Igor Levit nahm für Beethoven 32 Kilo ab". DIE WELT.
  4. "Igor Levit". Deutsche-Stiftung-Musikleben.
  5. (2018). "Prizewinners of last Academies". Hamamatsu International Piano Academy.
  6. "The Kissinger Piano Olympics from 1st till 4th of October 2020".
  7. Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. "HMTM Hannover: Igor Levit wird Professor für Klavier".
  8. He, Richard S.. (2021-09-10). "Every Metallica Blacklist cover ranked from worst to best".
  9. (28 March 2007). "Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben".
  10. "IFF Hannover: Levit, Igor".
  11. (18 December 2017). "Pianist Igor Levit erhält Beethoven-Ring". [[Pizzicato (magazine).
  12. Cooper, Michael. (3 January 2018). "The Pianist of the Resistance Captures a Surprise Award". The New York Times.
  13. Duke, David Gordon. (1 November 2018). "Visit offers rare chance to see renowned performer". [[The Vancouver Sun]].
  14. "Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2020 – Artist of the Year".
  15. "Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2020 – Instrumental".
  16. SWR2. (22 September 2020). "Bundesverdienstkreuz für Bürger, Europäer und Pianist Igor Levit".
  17. (3 March 2024). "Buber-Rosenzweig-Medaille 2024".
  18. Gierens, Oliver. (3 July 2025). "Batiashvili und Levit mit Kaiser-Otto-Preis ausgezeichnet".
  19. Maddocks, Fiona. (24 May 2020). "Igor Levit: 'These concerts were life-saving for me'". [[The Guardian]].
  20. In Ross' article in ''The New Yorker'' (11 May 2020), Levit implied that he started posting ''Hauskonzerte'' on 12 March 2020. In the intro to the 2 May 2020 Hauskonzert, he made this explicit. Posts from 12 and 13 March are not accessible.
  21. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1238872339707813889 14 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  22. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1239249776010563590 15 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  23. The 16 March 2020 ''Hauskonzert'' is not accessible.
  24. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1239974860412973056 17 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  25. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1240633921903173633 18 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  26. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1240735602292686849 19 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  27. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1241061903562137600 20 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  28. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1241424345005723653 21 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  29. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1241801954680078337 22 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  30. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1242149086578565123 23 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  31. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1242511379690672130 24 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  32. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1242873780596281345 25 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  33. The 26 and 27 March 2020 ''Hauskonzerte'' are not accessible.
  34. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1243961028368572417 28 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  35. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1244308687432421380 29 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  36. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1244671004598833157 30 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  37. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1245033691706949633 31 March 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  38. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1245403087889731588 01 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  39. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1245758003850235909 02 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  40. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1246120408128147459 03 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  41. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1246482730604519424 04 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  42. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1246845722282078211 05 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. Levit notes in the intro to this post that this is the twenty-fifth ''Hauskonzert''. {{Twitter
  43. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1247207605199568902 06 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  44. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1247570249291104261 07 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  45. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1247932648024137729 08 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  46. "Original Rags", "Maple Leaf Rag", and "Peacherine Rag".
  47. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1248294801382035456 09 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  48. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1248657170977173505 10 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  49. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1249019190041853952 11 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  50. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1249381876776742913 12 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  51. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1249744968840876035 13 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  52. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1250108117804875779 14 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  53. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1250469206740606976 15 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  54. Levit did not play a Hauskonzert on 16 April. He notes in the intro that this is Hauskonzert no. 36.
  55. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1251194166606016512 17 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  56. Transcription by [[Ronald Stevenson]], per Levit.
  57. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1251556506996260864 18 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  58. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1251918780982349826 19 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  59. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1252281125684285454 20 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  60. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1252643783621128193 21 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  61. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1253014209430007808 22 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  62. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1253371759060975618 23 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  63. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1253739303357775872 24 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  64. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1254093309267652608 25 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  65. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1254455639922880517 26 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  66. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1254818620833701888 27 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  67. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1255180648320512001 28 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  68. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1255542808171216896 29 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  69. Levit says in the intro that this Beethoven Ländler of "about 16 bars" has "just [been] found".{{cite quote. (March 2021)
  70. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1255905503969935368 30 April 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  71. There was no ''Hauskonzert'' on 1 May 2020. Levit tweeted that he was in Hanover that day to help celebrate NDR Radiophilharmonie's 70th anniversary. He notes in the intro that this is ''Hauskonzert'' no. 50.
  72. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1256637069381820418 02 May 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  73. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1256991871592738822 03 May 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  74. Levit tweeted, "To gather strength from silence, not just music. I've been looking for a reason to 'stop', but there's no other than this: pause. Refill. Learn – and start again. And this 'again' will come soon. Therefore, tonight's 52nd house concert will be the last."
  75. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1257362314954780677 04 May 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  76. Levit posted no Hauskonzerte to Twitter from 5 May through 23 May.
  77. ''[https://twitter.com/igorpianist/status/1264601933089734658 24 May 2020 Hauskonzert]''. {{Twitter
  78. Barone, Joshua. (31 May 2020). "'I Just Let Myself Go': Igor Levit on Surviving a Satie Marathon". The New York Times.
  79. (2021). "Piano concertos nos. 1 & 2".
  80. Levit, Igor. (2013). "Beethoven: the late piano sonatas". Sony Classical.
  81. "Igor Levit, Piano".
  82. (2014). "Partitas BWV 825–830". Sony Music Entertainment.
  83. "Igor Levit, Piano".
  84. The Bach and the Beethoven CDs were released as single CDs in 2016.
  85. (2018). "Life".
  86. Jeal, Erica. (11 October 2018). "Igor Levit: Life review – pianist's transcendental meditation on grief". [[The Guardian]].
  87. Blum, Ronald. (17 March 2019). "Igor Levit not limited to the piano". [[The Desert Sun]].
  88. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/05/beethoven-complete-piano-sonatas-review ''Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas review – at his best, Levit is outstanding''], ''The Guardian'', 5 September 2019
  89. (2020-10-07). "Igor Levit named Gramophone's Artist of the Year".
  90. [http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Oct/Shostakovich-preludes-19439809212.htm SONY 19439809212, reviewed at ''MusicWeb International'']
  91. (2021). "Igor Levit on DSch".
  92. [https://www.amazon.com/Encounter-Igor-Levit/dp/B08BR1KBGL/ref=sr_1_2?crid=B5CXX90ZXLS2&keywords=igor+levit&qid=1701132790&s=music&sprefix=igor+l%2Cpopular%2C96&sr=1-2 Editorial Reviews]
  93. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/17/igor-levit-tristan-review-leipzig-gewandhaus-welser-most-john-adams-tonhalle-orchestra-zurich-jarvi ''Guardian'']
  94. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/arts/music/classical-music-albums-october.html?searchResultPosition=2 "Igor Levit's latest amazement"]
  95. Schilling, Regina. (2022-10-06). "Igor Levit: No Fear". Zero One Film, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), ARTE.

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1987-birthsliving-peoplerussian-classical-pianistsmale-classical-pianistsgerman-classical-pianistsjewish-classical-pianistsgerman-people-of-russian-jewish-descent20th-century-russian-jews21st-century-classical-pianistsmusicians-from-nizhny-novgorodhochschule-für-musik,-theater-und-medien-hannover-alumnirussian-expatriates-in-germanymozarteum-university-salzburg-alumnibbc-radio-3-new-generation-artists21st-century-russian-male-musiciansrecipients-of-the-cross-of-the-order-of-merit-of-the-federal-republic-of-germanymusicians-from-hanoverlower-saxony-state-prize-recipients