Evgeny Kissin was born in Moscow in 1971 and began to play by ear and improvise on the piano at the age of two. At age six, he entered the Moscow Gnessin School of Music, where he was a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor, his only teacher. At age 10, he made his concerto debut and gave his first solo recital one year later. He came to international attention in 1984 when, at age 12, he performed both of Chopin’s piano concertos in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, recorded live by Melodia, and released as a two-LP album.

Mr. Kissin has received the Crystal Prize of Osaka Symphony Hall for the Best Performance of the Year; the Musician of the Year Prize from the Chigiana Academy of Music; the Triumph Award for his outstanding contribution to Russia’s culture; an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music; an honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London; and an honorary doctorate of letters from Hong Kong University.

Mr. Kissin’s newest release is an album featuring Beethoven sonatas on Deutsche Grammophon. His recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky on RCA Red Seal won him a Grammy Award, as did his recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, and he was a special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards Ceremony. This season, Mr. Kissin tours the United States and collaborates for the first time with baritone Matthias Goerne. He also appears in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, among others.