Renaud Capuçon / Igor Levit

Renaud Capuçon & Friends

French violinist and conductor Renaud Capuçon likes to encourage musical encounters and mix generations. With Paul Zientara, Julia Hagen and Guillaume Bellom, he shares Fauré and two rarely performed gems from post-Romantic repertoire.

Igor Levit

Igor Levit is one of the most significant pianists of his generation (born in 1987) and regularly performs on all the major stages worldwide. He has appeared at Konserthuset Stockholm on several occasions, including during the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, when he performed all of Beethoven's piano sonatas in a series of live-streamed concerts (due to the pandemic).Beethoven is also featured on the program for this concert: the third symphony – Eroica – in Franz Liszt's famous arrangement. The program as a whole consists of what is often referred to as the three great Bs of classical music history: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and begins with Bach's chromatic fantasy and fugue. It was acclaimed and regarded as a masterpiece even during Bach's lifetime, filled with advanced voice leading and lightning-fast runs.Between Bach and Beethoven, Levit has placed Brahms' atmospheric and youthfully explosive ballades; he was only 21 years old when he wrote them. They are designed as short musical narratives. We know that the first one is based on an old Scottish ballad about Edward, who returns home with blood on his sword. The atmosphere is dark and ominous. However, no source material for the other three has been preserved.

Chamber Orchestra – Renaud Capuçon

Igor Levit

Igor Levit

Every pianist and soloist takes a risk with Franz Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Few have dared to tackle this pianistic chunk, which demands everything at once: power, virtuosity, a sense of the piece's architecture, and a keen ear for detail. Igor Levit takes on this task. Liszt has long been a favorite in his repertoire. For a TV documentary, he already traced the composer's footsteps around 15 years ago. Levit's program for the Essen Philharmonic is brilliant: First, he takes us back to the starting point of all romantic piano virtuosity, Bach's "Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue".

Igor Levit

In the 19th century, piano arrangements played a crucial role in disseminating symphonic works, with Franz Liszt's arrangements of Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies considered the pinnacle. Igor Levit takes on this challenge. He performs Liszt's piano version, a feat that demands everything from a pianist. Levit also presents music by Johann Sebastian Bach and late piano pieces by Johannes Brahms.

Pianist Series: Igor Levit

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Igor Levit / Berliner Barock Solisten

When Igor Levit takes his seat at the keyboard, one thing is for sure: you’ll hear the pieces on the programme as never before. The German-Russian pianist makes his very own mark, often as unexpected as it is brilliant, on every work he plays, whisking even veteran repertoire warhorses into the here and now. In this concert Levit is accompanied by the Berliner Barock Solisten in music by two composers who can be described without exaggeration as pinnacles of music history: Johann Sebastian Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The most famous of the Bach sons made a no less illustrious career for himself than his father, and was admired by fellow composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. In this cleverly thought-out programme, Levit and the Berlin ensemble create a father-son dialogue along entirely modern lines.

Klavierabend Igor Levit

World-renowned pianist Igor Levit, known for his diverse programming, rarely played Chopin. However, this changed in 2024 with performances at the Salzburg Festival and Elbphilharmonie. In 2025, he'll play Chopin's Piano Sonata in B minor at the Albert Concerts, preceded by Schubert's Sonata in B-flat major and Schumann's Night Pieces. Chopin's sonata, his last, blends tradition and visionary spirit, reflecting his genius as both virtuoso and poet.

Riccardo Minasi | Igor Levit

Over the last few weeks Igor Levit, one of the great Beethoven pianists of our era, explained and played all 32 Beethoven sonatas on BR-KLASSIK. Now he’s the BRSO’s artist-in-residence for the 2020–21 season! Levit has already thrilled audiences by playing four Beethoven piano concertos with the same orchestra, most recently the Second, with his idiosyncratic blend of stylistic fidelity and spirit of adventure. All that’s missing is the First, op. 15, which now stands on the programme to complete the cycle. At the head of the orchestra is Riccardo Minasi, the principal conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra and a champion of period performance practice. He’s giving his début with “Viennese classics”: Beethoven will be followed by Haydn’s Symphony no. 88, a French-inspired work that enchants us with its expressive Largo and its lilting dance movements, whether gruff in the Minuet or elegant in the Finale.