Standing ovations for Denis Kozhukhin’s Debut at Carnegie Hall

February 17, 2014

On 13 February, Denis Kozhukhin made his stunning concerto debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. Performing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Temirkanov, the New York Times commented:

“There was plenty of brilliance and dazzling passagework in his account of Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto. Yet this was a performance that highlighted the music’s Romantic musings, poetic lyricism and fanciful flights. The finale was especially good, played with refreshing lightness and bite, like a real Russian dance… The audience gave Mr. Kozhukhin a standing ovation.”

Earlier that week, Kozhukhin also received huge critical acclaim for both his solo recital debut at the Zurich Tonhalle and his recital debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw’s Master Pianists Series. Describing his recital at the Tonhalle, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung remarked that “this was a performance entirely free of showmanship, but full of energy, expression and structure” and “had the audience jumping from their seats.” Kozhukhin’s performance at the Concertgebouw similarly earned him a rarely-given 5 star review in the Volkskrant.