With an alert and critical mind, Igor Levit places his art in the context of social events and understands it as inseparably linked to them. In the 2023/24 Igor Levit performs in recital at the Musikverein Vienna, Philharmonie Berlin, La Scala Milan, Carnegie Hall New York, London’s Wigmore Hall as well as in Seoul, Tokyo, Paris, Montréal and Toronto among others. Guest engagements include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. After a very successful launch of the Piano Fest, Lucerne Festival’s new keyboard festival, Igor Levit curates the festival’s second edition in May 2024 in collaboration with the Lucerne Festival. Since the 2022-23 season, Igor Levit is the Co-Artistic Director of the Musikfestival Heidelberger Frühling. Born in Nizhni Novgorod, Igor Levit moved to Germany with his family at the age of eight. He completed his piano studies in Hannover with the highest score in the history of the institute. His teachers included Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti Raekallio, Bernd Goetzke, Lajos Rovatkay and Hans Leygraf. Igor Levit was the youngest participant in the 2005 International Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, where he won the silver prize, the special prize for chamber music, the audience prize and the special prize for the best performance of contemporary pieces. In 2018 Igor Levit received the “Gilmore Artist Award” – conferred only every four years to a classical pianist and recognized as the largest and one of the world’s most distinguished music awards. In spring 2019 he was appointed professor for piano at his alma mater, the University of Music, Theatre and Media Hanover. The awards Levit received for his recordings include the Gramophone „Artist of the Year“ Award as well as the Opus Klassik Award for his 2019 highly-acclaimed first recording of the 32 Beethoven-Sonatas. For his political commitment Igor Levit has been awarded the 5th International Beethoven Prize (2019) and the award of the “Statue B” of the International Auschwitz Committee (2020). His 53 Twitter-streamed live house concerts during the lockdown in spring 2020 garnered a worldwide audience, offering a sense of community and hope.