Igor Levit, probably the most charismatic and famend pianists of the era, will carry out a solo recital on the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv on July 23.
Born to a Russian-Jewish household, Levit emigrated along with his mother and father to Germany in 1995, when he was simply eight years outdated.
A former little one prodigy, the 39-year-old now boasts a powerful catalog of critically acclaimed studio albums, that includes celebrated recordings of Beethoven’s full piano sonatas, Brahms’ piano concertos, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s preludes and fugues.
Past his musical mastery, Levit stands out as one in all at present’s most politically engaged artists. Within the wake of the October 7 assaults, he clearly expressed his solidarity with Israel.
To confront the backlash dealing with the Jewish group, he launched Towards Silence. Towards antisemitism on the Berliner Ensemble theater. This landmark solidarity marketing campaign mobilized fellow artists to struggle an alarming rise of antisemitism in Germany.
The high-profile charity occasion was meant to interrupt public silence, with 100% of the ticket proceeds donated to organizations supporting victims of hate crimes and strengthening native Jewish life.
Being so outspoken has not come with no worth; Levit’s preeminent activism has pressured him to dwell, at instances, below police safety.
‘You shout to the world, and the world shouts again’
“You shout into the woods, to the world, and the world shouts again – that’s nothing new to me,” he stated, reclining on his sofa at house in Germany.
But, he added, dialogue was one thing he nonetheless welcomed. “So long as folks don’t overstep it,” he stated. “And in the event that they do, they’ll face my response with power and a smile.”
He’s positively not somebody to mince phrases, including bluntly that if somebody determined to threaten him as a result of they disliked his views, “they might go f*** themselves.”
In November 2023, simply weeks after the October 7 bloodbath and whereas Israel was below hearth on a number of fronts, Levit was one of many first worldwide artists to fly into the nation.
With main worldwide flights canceled and regular cultural life halted, his determination to come back was deeply private. “It was out of pure want to be with my folks,” he stated.
Throughout that go to, Levit performed at various charity venues and hospitals, starting from Ichilov Hospital to the Levinsky-Wingate Educational Heart.
Becoming a member of forces with Israeli singer Achinoam Nini (Noa), he carried out for wounded civilians, troopers, and the households of hostages. He described this as a transformative expertise.
Reflecting on how the previous few years have reshaped him, he famous: “I couldn’t probably reply you ways particularly, however the particular person you might be chatting with now may be very totally different in comparison with the particular person I used to be three years in the past.”
Following these solidarity concert events, he then established the NO SILENCE label below Sony Classical to advertise humanism, inventive freedom, and resistance to extremism.
Nevertheless, Levit stated, he doesn’t essentially count on each artist to make use of their platform politically.
“Everyone has a proper to determine for themselves. I’m not judging anybody who can’t face the stress. I imagine that one ought to, however engagement comes with a worth.”
Certainly, throughout our dialog, he stated that his public assist for Israel price him about 90% of his acquaintances, although they weren’t a part of his close-friend internal circle.
His inventive responses have been equally poignant. In December 2023, Levit launched Lieder ohne Worte (Songs With out Phrases), a musical composition born out of what he described as a “deepest internal want” to reply to the October 7 bloodbath and the next rise of antisemitism. The album’s cowl prominently options his Star of David necklace.
The undertaking served as each a private outcry within the face of tragedy and a tangible device for change. Levit donated all the album’s proceeds to 2 German organizations combating antisemitism and discrimination: OFEK e.V. and the Kreuzberg Initiative Towards Antisemitism.
“I wished to make use of my craft to boost cash for organizations that fight antisemitism and educate younger folks in colleges relating to the roots and historical past of antisemitism,” Levit defined.
On July 23, his upcoming efficiency on the Charles Bronfman Auditorium will mark his first full Israeli recital because the warfare started.
‘It means the world to play in Israel’
“Merely put, it means the world to me to play in Israel,” he stated. “It took lengthy sufficient, and I hope it is going to turn into a daily factor.”
Very like his earlier efforts, Levit is not going to revenue from the night. All proceeds from this live performance will likely be donated to the Keynote Program, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s initiative for the musical training of youth.
“I don’t desire a penny for my concert events in Israel,” he stated firmly, including that it’ll proceed to be this fashion for so long as he’s grieving. This system options Schubert’s Sonata No. 20 in A serious, Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu, and Beethoven’s Appassionata – all extremely dramatic works that mirror the extraordinary battle of the human spirit.
The general public false impression relating to classical musicians is that they reside in remoted ivory towers, a stereotype Levit utterly shatters.
His sonic world extends far past the classical canon; when requested about his musical influences exterior of the classical realm, he first pointed to intense rock acts like 9 Inch Nails and Metallica, then revealed an excellent deeper ardour.
“I’m really a hip-hop nut,” he smiled. “It’s one thing that I grew up with ever since I used to be a child, and it’s nonetheless essential to me.”
With out a lot encouragement, he went on to say that “it’s no matter Eminem got here up with, or the early LL Cool J albums, but additionally the N.W.A albums. I just like the language and the depth of it.”
When requested if he takes an curiosity within the prewar Jewish composers who had been pressured to to migrate from Nazi Germany to Obligatory Palestine, resembling Paul Ben-Haim, Josef Tal, and Erich Walter Sternberg, Levit admitted that they nonetheless mark uncharted territory for him.
“I by no means performed Ben-Haim. I do know that Lahav Shani conducts a variety of it; he made an attractive recording of it a while in the past. However I’m solely 39 years outdated, so there’s time and area to find, and I’m tremendously curious to find extra,” Levit stated. “It would occur.”
Given his boundless vitality and fierce dedication to his heritage, Israeli audiences can actually sit up for sharing in that journey of discovery, beginning this July in Tel Aviv.
