Denis Kozhukhin

Denis Kozhukhin makes debut with Frankfurt Radio SO on 10 & 11 April (+ BBC lunchtime recital at St Luke’s, 17 April)

This month, Denis Kozhukhin will make his debut with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. On 10 and 11 April, Kozhukhin will perform Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Alte Oper under the baton of Marin Alsop. Kozhukhin’s Frankfurt RSO performances follow several major debuts this spring, including at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw’s Master Pianists Series and the Zurich Tonhalle, and a major tour of the USA with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov, during which the New York Times described his Carnegie Hall concerto debut as “dazzling”.

On 17 April, Kozhukhin will give a BBC lunchtime recital at LSO St Luke’s in London, which will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The programme will include Taneyev Prelude and Fugue, Prokofiev Piano Sonata No.9 in C major, Op.103  and Rachmaninov Corelli Variations.

Standing ovations for Denis Kozhukhin’s Debut at Carnegie Hall

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.

Critical acclaim for Denis Kozhukhin’s Zurich Tonhalle recital debut

Denis Kozhukhin‘s solo recital debut at the Zurich Tonhalle on 3 February, in the venue’s subscription cycle ‘Série jeunes’, was praised in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung:

“What a talented, intelligent young pianist this is: 27-year-old Denis Kozhukhin’s Zurich Tonhalle debut as part of the venue’s Série Jeunes had the audience jumping from their seats after the closing piece – Franz Liszt’s bravura “Mazzeppa” Etude. But the evening was not just about an explosion of sheer, superhuman virtuosity, far from it…

The pianist brought a sense of impetuous youthfulness to Brahms’s early work, driving the music forward with an energy that revelled in Brahms’s virtuosity as a pianist and composer and proved that dolce did not necessarily have to mean quiet. This is a Russian with a clear idea of what he wants to do, who gave us his own dramatic and emotional view of Brahms in his quest to present a unified picture of the music as a whole. And yet Kozhukhin still showed a certain sense of style in his interpretation, with a peerless logic to the way he brought out the sometimes intricate interweaving patterns of the parts and the formal structure of the work.

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USA tour with St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra

This month, Denis Kozhukhin will be the soloist for the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra’s major tour of the USA with conductors Yuri Temirkanov and Nikolai Alexeev. Kozhukhin will perform Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 at ten different venues, including Carnegie Hall, New York (13 February), Davies Hall, San Francisco (2 March) and Bellas Artes, Mexico City (9 March). On 26 March, Kozhukhin will return to the orchestra to perform the same concerto under the baton of Temirkanov in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia.

Kozhukhin makes solo recital debut at Zurich Tonhalle and at Concertgebouw Master Pianists series, and returns to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

On 3 February, Kozhukhin makes his solo recital debut at the Zurich Tonhalle. Having performed at the venue with the Pavel Haas Quartet in December 2013, Kozhukhin returns to perform in the Tonhalle’s subscription cycle Série jeunes, where he will perform works by Brahms, Prokofiev, Haydn and Liszt. In the same week, Kozhukhin will return to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic where he will give two performances of Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Eivind Gullberg Jensen; the concerts will take place on 6 (Liverpool Philharmonic Hall) and 7 February (Carlisle Sands Centre). On 9 February, Kozhukhin will make his recital debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw’s Master Pianists Series, where he will perform works including Brahms Sonata No. 1, Prokofiev Sonata No. 9, Haydn Sonata No. 59 in E-flat major and a selection of works by Liszt.

Denis Kozhukhin Hallé Orchestra debut and Mariinsky Christmas day concert

Denis Kozhukhin makes his debut with the Hallé orchestra on 11 December at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall with a performance of Chopin Piano Concerto No.1. Two further performances take place on 12 and 15 December, and all are under the baton of Louis Langrée.

Kozhukhin’s Hallé performances follow several major debuts for the pianist this season, including at London’s Wigmore Hall and Zürich’s Tonhalle as well a first performance with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

On 25 December, Kozhukhin also gives his debut performance at the Mariinsky Theatre’s International Piano Festival in St Petersburg. The evening recital will include music by Haydn, Brahms, Schubert and Prokofiev.

Denis Kozhukhin gives recital at the Zurich Tonhalle with the Pavel Haas Quartet, makes debut concerto appearance with the Hallé Orchestra and gives his first recital at the Mariinsky Theatre

On 8 December, Denis Kozhukhin will perform for the first time at the Tonhalle in Zürich when he will join the Pavel Haas Quartet in a performance of Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor. Kozhukhin will return to the Tonhalle on 3 February 2014 when he will give his debut solo recital as part of the venue’s subscription cycle Série jeunes. The following week, Kozhukhin makes his debut concerto appearance with the Hallé Orchestra. He will give three performances on 11, 12 and 15 December at the Bridgewater Hall when he will perform Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Louis Langrée.

On 25 December, Kozhukhin will give his debut performance at the Mariinsky Theatre’s International Piano Festival in St Petersburg. The recital will commence at 20:00 and include works by Haydn, Brahms, Schubert and Prokofiev.