Evgeny Igorevich Kissin (born October 10, 1971) is a famous pianist. Kissin was born in Moscow to a Jewish family. At age 11 months, he reportedly was able to hum along to a Bach tune his sister Alla was playing on the piano. At age 6 he commenced his own piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children where he became a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor.
At the age of 10, Kissin made his debut with orchestra and the year after that he gave his first recital in Moscow. Kissin's extraordinary talents were made manifest to the international scene in 1984, when he played and recorded Chopin's two piano concertos with the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1988, he played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic's New Year's Concert.
In September, 1990, Kissin made his North American debut 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 piano recital in the history of the Proms Festival in London.
Kissin resides between Paris, London and New York.
Kissin's musicality, the depth and poetic quality of his interpretations have put him in the forefront of today's pianists. He makes regular recital tours of Europe, America and Asia to sold-out houses. He has performed with all the leading orchestras of the world under such conductors as Abbado, Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Davis, Gergiev, Giulini, Jansons, Levine, Maazel, Muti, Ozawa, Solti, Svetlanov and Temirkanov. Kissin has also performed chamber music with Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, James Levine, Alexander Knyazev, Mischa Maisky, Thomas Quasthoff, Isaac Stern and others.
Kissin was a special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards.
Musical America, Instrumentalist of the Year, 1994
Triumph Award, Outstanding Contribution to Russia's Culture (Youngest Awardee), 1997
Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music 2001
Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music (2005)
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra), 2006