Igor Levit

»Pianist, citizen, European« – this is how Igor Levit describes himself, and it summarises what distinguishes him as a musician: not afraid to look beyond his own backyard and a commitment that doesn’t stop at the stage door, but is an integral part of his artistic personality. At times Levit speaks directly to the audience, other times he comments on Twitter or pins a badge with the European flag onto his lapel during a concert in Brexit-shocked London. Also in his programmes: after his much-followed encounter with three great variation cycles of Bach, Beethoven and Rzewski in 2016, Levit expanded his concept to include the transcriptions of the works by Bach, Liszt and Wagner incorporated in Robert Schumann’s seldom performed last composition »Geistervariationen«.