The Essential Evgeny Kissin (Apple Lossless)

Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin (born 10 October 1971) is a Russian classical pianist and former child prodigy. He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of Frédéric Chopin, for whom he has felt an affinity since early childhood.

Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin was born in Moscow to a Jewish family. At age 11 months, he was reputedly able to hum along to a Bach tune his sister Alla was playing on the piano. Recognized as a child prodigy, at age 6, he began piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children. There, he became a student of Anna Kantor, who was Kissin's only piano teacher.

At the age of 10, Kissin made his debut with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orchestra and the year after that he gave his first recital in Moscow. Kissin's talents were revealed on the international scene in 1984, when he played and recorded both of Chopin's piano concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. In 1987, he made his United Kingdom debut, alongside conductor Valery Gergiev and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival. In 1988, he played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic's New Year's Eve Concert. In September 1990, Kissin made his debut in North America playing Chopin's two piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the first piano recital in Carnegie Hall's centennial season. In 1997, he gave the first solo piano recital in the history of The Proms in London. In 2002 he became a British citizen.

Kissin makes regular recital tours of Europe, America and Asia. He has performed with all the leading orchestras of the world under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Mariss Jansons, Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Georg Solti, Yevgeny Svetlanov and Yuri Temirkanov. Kissin has also performed chamber music with Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, James Levine, Mischa Maisky, Thomas Quasthoff, Isaac Stern and others.

In addition to music, Kissin has given recitals of Yiddish and Russian poetry. A CD compilation of Kissin's recitals from the contemporary Yiddish poetry was issued by the Forward Association in 2010. In 2007 he became Honorary Patron of a professional chamber opera company, City Opera of Vancouver, led by conductor Charles Barber

2 Disc set, ripped in apple lossless.