Evgeny Kissin: one concert, two concertos
General booking opens 10am Tuesday 29 April. Join the Friends to book today.

Artists
Lawrence Foster – conductor
Evgeny Kissin – piano
Programme
Mussorgsky Night on a Bald Mountain
Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1
— Interval —
Rachmaninov The Rock
Scriabin Piano Concerto
Perhaps the most gifted classical pianist of our time, Evgeny Kissin takes centre stage with two rarely-performed jewels of the piano concerto repertoire.
Admired – even venerated – as the heir of the great Russian piano tradition, Kissin has an impressive list of awards, firsts and ‘youngest-evers’ to his name, including a Grammy for his recording of Prokofiev piano concertos with the Philharmonia.
His extraordinary programme brings together two bold, brilliant piano concertos by Prokofiev and Scriabin, alongside two dramatic Russian symphonic tone poems: Rachmaninov’s evocative The Rock, and Mussorgsky’s stormy Night on a Bald Mountain which promises to thrill audiences with its wild and terrifying Witches’ Sabbath.
Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto, like its composer, is bright and daring. Kissin chose to perform it in a competition at the St Petersburg Conservatory, reasoning that the jury “simply would not be able to judge whether I was playing it well or not”. His chutzpah paid off, and he won the competition – his prize was a grand piano.
Scriabin said that he wrote the piano part of his concerto in just a week. Yearning and poetic, it follows in the footsteps of Chopin, but points firmly in the direction of Scriabin’s journey into radical, almost mystical individuality.
Please note a change to this programme, with Rimsky-Korsakov’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bald Mountain replacing the previously advertised Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Concerto at the request of the soloist.
Need to know
Prices & Discounts
£32 – £112
Multibuy offer available; under-18s and concessions discounts available.
The price of your ticket includes a £2 restoration levy which will be shown as part of your total at checkout. The restoration levy goes towards the upkeep and improvement of Southbank Centre’s historic venues.
Booking fee: £3.50 (online), £4 (phone) per transaction.
Running time
1 hr 45 mins, including an interval
Recommended age
From 7+
Programme notes
Free printed programmes will be available at the venue. Digital programme notes will be available a week before the concert.
Box office
Philharmonia Box Office: 0800 652 6717
Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm
You may also like

Esa-Pekka Salonen and Víkingur Ólafsson
