Evgeny Kissin

Evgeny Igorevich Kissin is a Russian-born concert pianist and composer. He became a British citizen in 2002 and an Israeli citizen in 2013. Kissin first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has a wide repertoire and is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic era, particularly those of Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Modest Mussorgsky and Ludwig van Beethoven. He is commonly viewed as a great successor of the Russian piano school because of the depth, lyricism and poetic quality of his interpretations. Three CDs of Kissin's recitals from the classical and contemporary Yiddish poetry have been issued by the Forward Association. The first solo piano recital in the history of The Proms in London was given by Kissin in 1997. In September 1990, he made his North American debut playing Chopin's two piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the first piano recitals in Carnegie Hall's centennial season.