October 10: Evgeny Kissin – the pianist's birthday
On October 10, 1971, Evgeny Kissin, a pianist, composer, and two-time Grammy Award winner, was born in Moscow. He turns 55 today.
I can't talk about music in words. I have a natural feeling that music is above words.
Evgeny Kissin: Childhood and First Concerts
His father was a factory engineer, and his mother was a music teacher. At the age of six, he entered the Gnessin School of Music. He then studied at the adult Gnessin School. From childhood, he not only played but also wrote music.
Having started playing by ear at the age of two, I soon began to improvise, and when I went to school and learned to read music, I was able to record my own music.
At 10, he performed with an orchestra for the first time, performing Mozart. A year later, he gave his first solo concert. A year later, he played Chopin in the Grand Hall of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Tours and emigration
At 14, he began touring Europe. At 19, he performed in the United States for the first time. He performed Chopin concertos with the New York Philharmonic and gave a solo concert at Carnegie Hall.
At 20, after the collapse of the USSR, he left the country with his parents and sister. He lived in New York, London и ParisHe planned to come to Russia for concerts, but was apprehensive due to the threat of conscription: his deferment was repeatedly granted and then revoked. He toured the world, consistently playing to sold-out crowds.
It's simply foolish for performing musicians not to be humble. By virtue of our profession, we are constantly exposed to music far greater than ourselves.
Awards and recognition
Winner of the American Grammy Award for the performance of works Scriabin, Medtner и Stravinsky (2006) and Prokofiev (2010). Honorary Doctorate of Music from several European universities.
Mr. Kissin is skeptical about the Russian piano tradition, but despite this, it exists, and Kissin is its typical representative.
(New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg)
Composer and poet
At 45, in 2016, he debuted as a professional composer. He wrote a piano cycle, a sonata for cello and piano, a string quartet, and a trio for piano, violin, and cello.
I don’t expect or claim anything, I just don’t resist inspiration and continue to compose.
In 2002, he received British citizenship. In 2013, he became an Israeli citizen. He gives poetry recitals in Yiddish and Russian and publishes poetry and prose. He combines some musical programs with readings of his own works.
If I am like someone else, then who will be like me?
(favorite Yiddish proverb)
Prague, Moscow and Politics
Since 2016 lives in Prague.
If Russia had a different political regime, I would happily live in my native Moscow.
In 2021, he signed a petition from 400 musicians demanding that the Russian authorities release Alexey Navalny and other political prisoners.
When I come across something I hate, I want to tear it apart, destroy it, crush it, armed with all my temperament, historical knowledge and eloquence
In 2022, he condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He wrote a piano trio whose finale features the theme of Ukrainian victory.
Of course, the West is to blame. If it had subjected Russia to the kind of sanctions it is imposing now for the second Chechen war, Putin would not be in power.
Does not support the boycott of Russian culture in the West:
It's like identifying Putin's regime with Russian culture.
At the same time, he considers it not entirely appropriate to perform works depicting any Russian victory.
In some of Rachmaninoff's pieces, I sense some kind of inner difficulties, an inner spiritual discomfort. While playing the triumphant finale of one of his concertos, I decided to imagine it as the triumph of a future free Russia. Otherwise, I simply couldn't play this music.
In 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice added him to the register of “foreign agents”.
Everyone who knows my name knows what I have achieved, but what I have not achieved, I will take to my grave.
