With the pandemic still dragging on and the prospects bleak for a return to normal, any cultural event in Paris is perceived as a gift from heaven. Especially events of such magnitude as the solo concert of the pianist Evgeny Kissin at the elegant Théâtre des Champs Elysées – a theater built in 1913 in the early Art Deco style, which made history almost immediately for offering its stage to Diaghilev’s revolutionary “ballets russes.”
Not a seat remained empty last Saturday, January 22, when Kissin played a stunning programme of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin. He dedicated the concert to the memory of his beloved and only music teacher Anna Pavlovna Kantor (1923-2021), who passed away in July last year in Prague, where Kissin now lives with his family. Kantor taught the child prodigy from the age of six at Moscow’s Gnessin music school. After the sensational performance of twelve-year old Evgeny at the Moscow Conservatory on March 27, 1984, Kantor whisked her ward away from the hype surrounding the new star. Kissin then spent the rest of the school vacation in the quiet town of Zvenigorod, and seems to have avoided the malaise of stardom ever since. He projects modesty, the joy of sharing beautiful music and respect for his listeners, and perhaps this is why he is so generous with encores. And so it was last Saturday – Kissin obliged the enthusiastic audience and played four encores, one piece from each of the four composers on the programme.
Please read the full article on The Times of Israel - see the link below...
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