Events in Hamburg | ConcertPulse

Igor Levit / Piano Recital

Mon, Feb 10, 2025, 19:30

When listening to Igor Levit play Beethoven, you feel that you are being taken by the hand, that you are being led in a determined and yet extremely friendly manner on an exploration of a densely built-up terrain. An unexpected attraction captivates at every bend in the road, everything is there in its intimacy, grandeur, in its deep, ethical seriousness. And yet it seems close, accessible, completely present. This also applies when Levit takes on a work that was not actually intended for piano, such as Beethoven’s expansive »Eroica« Symphony: Beethoven is as direct, spontaneous and physical as life itself. But also as existential and uncomfortable as the things that determine our happiness and our worries. Igor Levit achieves that magical balance between the telling details and the meaningfulness of the big picture that characterises the classic Beethoven.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

Igor Levit / Piano Recital

Tue, Feb 11, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Igor Levit (Piano)

He has become something of a travel guide through the often rocky and impassable terrain of Beethoven’s music. With his recording of all 32 Beethoven sonatas and the accompanying podcast, Igor Levit has developed into one of the best Beethoven interpreters and mediators of our time. It is absolutely logical that he is now venturing out of the carefully scrutinised cosmos of works originally written for piano and into more unexplored territory: Beethoven’s symphonies in the versions by piano virtuoso Franz Liszt – which were actually considered unplayable – are the common thread running through Levit’s current season. And who could be better suited to scaling these symphonic mountains than the exceptional pianist? After Brahms’ four ballads , his fingers should definitely be warm...

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

Wiener Philharmoniker / Igor Levit / Thomas Adès

Sat, May 24, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

Wiener Philharmoniker, Igor Levit (Piano), Thomas Adès (Conductor)

The classical prelude is a symphony by Joseph Haydn, followed by Thomas Adès’ piano concerto, which has already been performed around 60 times since its premiere in 2019 – a remarkable amount for a contemporary work. Given the fame that the multi-talented British composer enjoys, this success is hardly surprising. A New York Times critic wrote about the premiere of the concerto: »As ever, the craft is astounding, the orchestration ceaselessly brilliant. The voice is wholly his own — dissonant, offbeat, whiplash, wry — even as it whispers to musics past. This breathless concerto comes across as zesty and accessible. But don’t be fooled. Just below the surface, the music sizzles. I can’t wait to hear it again.« The classical prelude is a symphony by Joseph Haydn, followed by Thomas Adès’ piano concerto, which has already been performed around 60 times since its premiere in 2019 – a remarkable amount for a contemporary work. Given the fame that the multi-talented British composer enjoys, this success is hardly surprising. A New York Times critic wrote about the premiere of the concerto: »As ever, the craft is astounding, the orchestration ceaselessly brilliant. The voice is wholly his own — dissonant, offbeat, whiplash, wry — even as it whispers to musics past. This breathless concerto comes across as zesty and accessible. But don’t be fooled. Just below the surface, the music sizzles. I can’t wait to hear it again.« Adès, whose music is full of musical echoes from baroque to jazz yet refuses to follow any dogmas, sets the tone for the second half of the concert featuring Leoš Janácek, whose musical language around a century ago was equally undogmatic. His rhapsody »Taras Bulba« sets Nikolai Gogol’s tragic tale of the same name about a father and his two sons to music. So vividly that a film inevitably unfolds in the mind’s eye of the listener. By way of a prelude, two miniatures pay tribute to Pierre Boulez as the spotlighted composer of the International Music Festival.

Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)

Igor Levit / Piano Recital

Mon, Feb 10, 2025, 19:30

Laeiszhalle, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

When listening to Igor Levit play Beethoven, you feel that you are being taken by the hand, that you are being led in a determined and yet extremely friendly manner on an exploration of a densely built-up terrain. An unexpected attraction captivates at every bend in the road, everything is there in its intimacy, grandeur, in its deep, ethical seriousness. And yet it seems close, accessible, completely present. This also applies when Levit takes on a work that was not actually intended for piano, such as Beethoven’s expansive »Eroica« Symphony: Beethoven is as direct, spontaneous and physical as life itself. But also as existential and uncomfortable as the things that determine our happiness and our worries. Igor Levit achieves that magical balance between the telling details and the meaningfulness of the big picture that characterises the classic Beethoven.

Igor Levit / Piano Recital

Tue, Feb 11, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

He has become something of a travel guide through the often rocky and impassable terrain of Beethoven’s music. With his recording of all 32 Beethoven sonatas and the accompanying podcast, Igor Levit has developed into one of the best Beethoven interpreters and mediators of our time. It is absolutely logical that he is now venturing out of the carefully scrutinised cosmos of works originally written for piano and into more unexplored territory: Beethoven’s symphonies in the versions by piano virtuoso Franz Liszt – which were actually considered unplayable – are the common thread running through Levit’s current season. And who could be better suited to scaling these symphonic mountains than the exceptional pianist? After Brahms’ four ballads , his fingers should definitely be warm...

Wiener Philharmoniker / Igor Levit / Thomas Adès

Sat, May 24, 2025, 20:00

Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)

The classical prelude is a symphony by Joseph Haydn, followed by Thomas Adès’ piano concerto, which has already been performed around 60 times since its premiere in 2019 – a remarkable amount for a contemporary work. Given the fame that the multi-talented British composer enjoys, this success is hardly surprising. A New York Times critic wrote about the premiere of the concerto: »As ever, the craft is astounding, the orchestration ceaselessly brilliant. The voice is wholly his own — dissonant, offbeat, whiplash, wry — even as it whispers to musics past. This breathless concerto comes across as zesty and accessible. But don’t be fooled. Just below the surface, the music sizzles. I can’t wait to hear it again.« The classical prelude is a symphony by Joseph Haydn, followed by Thomas Adès’ piano concerto, which has already been performed around 60 times since its premiere in 2019 – a remarkable amount for a contemporary work. Given the fame that the multi-talented British composer enjoys, this success is hardly surprising. A New York Times critic wrote about the premiere of the concerto: »As ever, the craft is astounding, the orchestration ceaselessly brilliant. The voice is wholly his own — dissonant, offbeat, whiplash, wry — even as it whispers to musics past. This breathless concerto comes across as zesty and accessible. But don’t be fooled. Just below the surface, the music sizzles. I can’t wait to hear it again.« Adès, whose music is full of musical echoes from baroque to jazz yet refuses to follow any dogmas, sets the tone for the second half of the concert featuring Leoš Janácek, whose musical language around a century ago was equally undogmatic. His rhapsody »Taras Bulba« sets Nikolai Gogol’s tragic tale of the same name about a father and his two sons to music. So vividly that a film inevitably unfolds in the mind’s eye of the listener. By way of a prelude, two miniatures pay tribute to Pierre Boulez as the spotlighted composer of the International Music Festival.