Eugene Kisin is a high-end pianist virtuoso known throughout the world. This is a musical prodigy of the 80s of the twentieth century. His career as a musician began in the Soviet Union. Today he is a citizen of Great Britain and Israel, lives in New York. His concert tours with great success take place in European countries and the USA. He rarely comes to Russia. Biography of Eugene Kisin is the life story of a musical genius.
Childhood
Kisin Eugene was born on October 10, 1971 in a Jewish family. His father Igor Borisovich Otman was an engineer, his mother Emilia Aronovna Kisina was a piano teacher at a children's music school. Bright musical abilities of little Zhenya showed up very early. When his elder sister played the piano, the baby repeated the learned musical fragments behind her. At two years old, he already played the piano on his own.
Is it easy to be a miracle child teacher?
From the age of six, Eugene began to study at the Gnesins' music school. Anna Pavlovna Kantor became his first and only teacher. According to her recollections, when Zhenya was brought to school, he could already play everything, but absolutely did not know either musical literacy or the rules necessary for playing the piano. The novice student impressed his teacher with extraordinary musical data, the ability to improvise, and vivid imagination. According to the memoirs of Anna Kantor, at first she was in some confusion: how to teach this child the necessary knowledge, how not to suppress his unbridled giftedness with dry requirements. Thanks to experience, tact and pedagogical instinct, Cantor managed to raise a real great pianist from a talented boy.
Change of surname
Relations with peers in the boy prodigy did not develop too smoothly. So that the son could avoid ridicule, the parents decided to change his last name Otman to his mother's surname Kisin, which is more familiar to the Russian language. In the family, the boy always found understanding and support.
First successes
The unusual natural giftedness of the student and the high professionalism of the teacher quickly began to produce results. The training of the young pianist was proceeding at a rapid pace. Every year he left his peers far behind. At the age of 10, he first performed with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orchestra, performing the 20th concert of Mozart. A year later, he is already giving a recital.
His performance in the Great Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Kitaenko was a resounding success and became a real sensation. The first and second concerts of Chopin Evgeni Kisin performed brilliantly. The young performer was 12 years old. According to the memoirs of Anna Kantor, Kisin with great impatience was waiting for his appearance on the stage. He really wanted to start the performance of his concert program as soon as possible. Since then, the boy has become a famous concert pianist. Prominent figures of the Soviet musical culture began to take part in his fate.
Foreign tours
Since 1985, the young pianist has been performing concerts outside the Soviet Union. First in Eastern Europe, then, in 1986, in Japan. In 1987, he made his debut in Western Europe at the Berlin Festival. In 1988, he made a concert tour with Moscow Virtuosi under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov. In the same year, at the New Year's concert of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Yevgeny Kisin performed the first concert of Tchaikovsky with Herbert von Karayan.
In the fall of 1990, Evgeny Kisin's debut concert in the USA took place. Here he played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Zubin Meta. A week later, the pianist gives a recital at Carnegie Hall.
Test of glory
The talent of the young musician was so vivid that from an early age Kisin was in the center of attention of professional musicians and the public. They talked a lot about him, wrote in the press, compared with other talented performers. In this regard, in childhood, the boy had many problems in communicating with peers, since envy was almost always present here. But Eugene always impeccably kept himself on the stage, and in life. He cannot be blamed for his excessive attention, self-love, which is characteristic of young talents who came to success early. The pianist was distinguished by modesty and correctness. He always follows the rules of good manners in art.
Later, already becoming an experienced concert pianist, Kisin in an interview notes that fame deprives a person of freedom and imposes a huge responsibility on him.
On top of success
In 1995, in the United States, Eugene Kisin was named the youngest best instrumentalist of the year.
In August 1997, he held a recital in London's Albert Hall at the Proms festival.
The famous pianist conducts active concert activities, performing in the best halls with leading orchestras of the world under the direction of renowned conductors Vladimir Ashkenazi, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Evgeni Svetlanov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim, Yuri Temirkanov and many others.
Pianist citizenship
At the very beginning of the 90s of the twentieth century, the Kisin family emigrated. Since 1991, Kisin lives in New York, Paris, London.
In 1997, five years after emigration, Kisin came to Russia to receive the Triumph Prize. This was one of the most striking events in his life.
In 2002, the pianist became a subject of Great Britain. At the end of 2013 received Israeli citizenship.
Currently, Eugene Kisin lives in Prague.
Personal life of a musician
Eugene Kisin does not like to talk about the details of his personal life. In the interviews he gives, the pianist avoids talking about his relationship with women. Therefore, the personal life of Eugene Kisin was hidden from prying eyes, thereby giving rise to many different rumors.
He has not been married long enough. But in the spring of 2017, fans of his talent were surprised - at the age of 46, the eminent pianist finally got married. The wife of Yevgeny Kisin was a childhood friend Karina Arzumanova. She was previously married and has three sons. Wedding celebrations were held in Prague, where the bride lives.
Kisin today
Unlike many miracle children who, having grown up, have lost their extraordinary gift, Kisin managed not only to preserve his extraordinary talent, but also to increase it.
Evgeni Kisin is a pianist who has never participated in performing arts contests in his life. However, he is a laureate of many awards, including the D. D. Shostakovich Award, Herbert von Karayan Award, the Russian Triumph Award, and the Grammy Award in the category “Best Solo Instrumental Performance with Orchestra” for performing the second and third concertos for piano S. S. Prokofiev. Currently, he is full of creative plans and quite happy with life. He does what he loves. His life is fairly measured and the whole is planned for several years in advance: after all, he is in demand as a performer. In a year he gives 40-45 concerts. They are still sold out. The audience is delighted with his performing skills.
In his work, there is a place for the chamber-instrumental genre. Sometimes he enjoys performing in chamber ensembles with Yuri Bashmet Natalya Gutman, Vladimir Spivakov and other wonderful performers. He also plays four hands and two pianos with the famous pianists Marta Argerich, James Levine and others. But due to the busy schedule of concert performances and rehearsals of famous musicians, such compositions sound quite rarely.
In addition to music, he has another hobby - he reads poetry in Yiddish and in Russian, speaking with poetry evenings.
In the ranking of the best pianists in the world, Kisin takes second place after the Argentine pianist Martha Argerich, leaving behind all the famous and successful pianists of Russian origin (for example, Vladimir Ashkenazi takes 8th position, Nikolai Lugansky - 16, Daniil Trifonov - 21, Mikhail Pletnev - 23, Denis Matsuev - 36, etc.)