The Ruhr Piano Festival Prize 2020

Evgeny Kissin

Each year, the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize honors an artist whose life achievement is closely connected with the Festival. Compensation consists in a scholarship granted by the prize-winner to a young pianist of his/her choice, who is invited to play a début recital at the Festival the following year.

Evgeny Kissin is acclaimed all over the world as one of the great pianists of our time. For over three decades he has been making the most outstanding international concert halls his home. Kissin, a modest and reticent artist, impresses audiences with formidable technique and rare musical depth. He performed his début at the Ruhr Piano Festival in 2004 with a programme centered on Chopin. In 2014 he returned with sonatas by Schubert and Scriabin, and in 2016 he gave a trio recital with Julian Rachlin and Mischa Maisky.

Then, in 2018, he performed the Festival’s New Year Concert with the Emerson String Quartet, before giving an acclaimed solo recital with Beethoven sonatas in 2019. Full of gratitude and delight in view of the intense musical moments he has offered us, we have chosen to acknowledge Evgeny Kissin’s sublime artistry by awarding him the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize.

THE HITHERTO 24 PRIZEWINNERS THE PRIZEWINNERS SELECTED THE FOLLOWING PIANISTS FOR A RUHR PIANO FESTIVAL SCHOOLARSHIP:
Bella Davidovich1998Peter Józsa
Daniel Barenboim1999Saleem Abboud Ashkar
Dmitri Bashkirov †2000Denis Lossev
Graham Johnson2001Joseph Breinl
Leon Fleisher †2002Nicholas Angelich
Pierre-Laurent Aimard2003Tamara Stefanovich
Alfred Brendel2004Tim Horton
Pierre Boulez †2005David Fray
Chick Corea †2006Gwilym Simcock
Martha Argerich2007Mauricio Vallina
Maurizio Pollini2008 
András Schiff2009Juho Pohjonen
Grigory Sokolov2010Alexander Mogilevsky
Elisabeth Leonskaja2011Juan Pérez Floristán
Radu Lupu2012Martín García
Marc-André Hamelin2013Charlie Albright
Krystian Zimerman2014 
Hélène Grimaud2015Aidan Mikdad
Arcardi Volodos2016Lucas Jussen
Philip Glass gemeinsam mit
Dennis Russell Davies & Maki
Namekawa		2017Sergei Redkin
Elena Bashkirova2018Giuseppe Guarrera
Michel Camilo2019A Bu
Evgeny Kissin2020Eva Gevorgyan

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