Denis Kozhukhin

Chicago Classical Review: Pianist Denis Kozhukhin searches for harmony in a wide range of music

Career paths are different for every pianist. Some focus on giving recitals while others eschew chamber music altogether for the spectacle of the concert hall, the sound of an orchestra enveloping their playing of a concerto.

But for pianist Denis Kozhukhin, they are all just different but equally important parts in a single multifaceted career.

“I have to say that the aspects of my playing, the chamber music, solo recital, and concertos with orchestras are at the same level of importance to me,” the Russian pianist said from his home in Berlin. “I am trying to combine them in such a way that there is a higher kind of harmony.”

Since winning First Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels in 2010 at the tender age of 23, Kozhukhin has kept a high profile through an international touring schedule that has taken him to the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and, most recently, the Ravinia Festival.

His U.S. tour has featured him in Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in New York last February and in Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra this past August. In addition, he remains active in performing chamber music, having accompanied musicians such as the Jerusalem Quartet, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, clarinetist Jörg Widmann, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, among others.

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By Aaron Keebaugh