Carnegie Hall

Celebrated around the globe for his opera and concert performances, German baritone Matthias Goerne is a frequent guest with leading orchestras at renowned festivals and concert halls. Among his musical partners are conductors who include Claudio Abbado, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Franz Welser-Möst. His carefully chosen roles range from Amfortas, Marke, Wolfram, Wotan, Orest, and Jochanaan, to the title roles in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Berg’s Wozzeck.

Mr. Goerne’s artistry has been documented on numerous recordings, which have received five Grammy Award nominations, an International Classical Music Award, a Gramophone Award, the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award, Diapason d’Or, and the ECHO Klassik Award for Singer of the Year. He has released three albums with Deutsche Grammophon: Beethoven songs with Jan Lisiecki; a collection of Wagner, R. Strauss, and Pfitzner songs with Seong-Jin Cho; and his new album of songs by R. Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Berg, and Shostakovich with Daniil Trifonov. His latest album Schubert Revisited was released in January 2023 by Deutsche Grammophon.

In the 2023–2024 season, Mr. Goerne embarks on an extensive recital and orchestral tour of China and performs a series of recitals with Evgeny Kissin in Europe and the US. Highlights include the premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Schumannliebe at Porto’s Casa da Música and Kölner Philharmonie, an appearance with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and his return to the Salzburg Festival.

Evgeny Kissin’s musicality and extraordinary virtuosity have earned him the veneration and admiration deserved only by one of the most gifted classical pianists of his generation. He has appeared with conductors who include Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph von Dohnányi, Carlo Maria Giulini, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, and Seiji Ozawa, as well as all the great orchestras of the world.

Mr. Kissin was born in Moscow in 1971 and began to play by ear and improvise on the piano at the age of two. At age six, he entered a school for gifted children—the Gnesins Russian Academy of Music—where he was a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor. He came to international attention in 1984 when, at age 12, he performed in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow State Philharmonic led by Dmitri Kitayenko.

This season, Mr. Kissin tours to the US with a recital program that includes the works of his beloved Chopin, Beethoven, Brahms, and Prokofiev. He also collaborates with baritone Matthias Goerne, touring to Europe and the US. He appears in concert with major European orchestras as well, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, among others.

Mr. Kissin’s musical awards and tributes from around the world include the Crystal Prize of the Osaka Symphony Hall for Best Performance of the Year; Musician of the Year Prize from Accademia Musicale Chigiana; Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year; Triumph Award; an honorary Doctor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music; Shostakovich Award; honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music; and an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Hong Kong.

Mr. Kissin’s newest album features Beethoven sonatas on the Deutsche Grammophon label. His previous recordings have received awards and accolades that include the Edison Klassiek, Diapason d’Or, and the Grand Prix of La Nouvelle Academie du Disque in France. His recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky won him a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Instrumental Soloist. In 2002, Mr. Kissin was named Echo Klassik Soloist of the Year. His recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, won him a Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance.