Lauded for his rare technical sophistication, refinement of tone and keen programmatic explorations, Igor Levit continues to make his mark on the classical music world as ‘one of the most probing, intelligent and accomplished artists of the new generation’ (The New York Times) and as a true artist ‘authentic in the most profound meaning of the word’ (London’s Sunday Times). The Los Angeles Times proclaimed in Spring 2015: ‘He is the future’.

The 2016 season introduces Igor Levit’s work on three of the piano literature’s paramount cyclical works – Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Frederic Rzewski’s variation cycle The People United Will Never Be Defeated. Igor Levit performed all three variation cycles at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper in September 2015 before presenting the Goldberg Variations in New York’s Park Avenue Armory in collaboration with Marina Abramovic, Diabelli in London’s Wigmore Hall and Rzewski’s The People in Hamburg In October 2015, Sony Classical released Igor Levit’s third solo album for the label featuring all three variation works in cooperation with the Festival Heidelberger Frühling. The season marks the finale of his Beethoven Sonata cycle at the Schubertiade spanning over three years and will see him perform all Beethoven sonatas at Tonhalle Düsseldorf. Further solo recitals will bring Igor Levit to the Lucerne Festival, the Musikverein Vienna, Bilbao’s Philharmonic Society and to the US in a multi-city recital tour.

The season marks Igor Levit’s debuts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Kirill Petrenko), National Symphony Orchestra (Jiří Bělohlávek), Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich (Bernhard Haitink) and NDR Sinfonieorchester (Thomas Hengelbrock). Return engagements reunite him with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Sir Roger Norrington), Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin (Osmo Vänskä) and the Royal Scottish National Symphony (Thomas Søndergård). In Spring 2016 he will make his debut with the Irish Chamber Orchestra (Jörg Widman) both in Ireland and at the Festival Heidelberger Frühling – a collaboration that will extend into 2017 featuring Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and three Mozart concerti. Igor Levit continues his close relationship with the Heidelberger Frühling as the Artistic Director of the Festival’s Chamber Music Academy.