Piano Recital with Igor Levit

Beethoven’s piano sonatas are a listening adventure, a musical journey through storms and passion, happiness and farewells. The music is charged with enormous expressive power and occasional moments of brilliance that push the boundaries of playability, but it can also be light and gentle.

Here, the young Russian-born pianist Igor Levit will tackle five of Beethoven’s sonatas. Levit is considered one of the truly thrilling pianists of his generation and will also perform in conjunction with this visit to Konserthuset with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Sakari Oramo in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (25 and 27 January).

Beethoven is thought to have met Mozart in Vienna in 1787 and it is even possible that Beethoven received a few lessons at that time, although this remains unclear. Still, it is impossible to escape the fact that the piece we will enjoy here, his Sonata in C Minor, Opus 10, bears similarities to Mozart’s Sonata in C Minor, KV 457. 

After the two sonatas of Opus 49, which were written so that even decent amateurs could perform them, we will conclude with “Appassionata”, Beethoven’s best-known piano sonata together with “Moonlight Sonata” and “Pathétique”. This passionate and fervent music has hints of darkness throughout. In the final masterful and powerful movement, the music assumes a nearly demonic dimension.

My picture of Birgit

In 2018, the music world will observe the 100-year anniversary of Birgit Nilsson. Konserthuset will begin this anniversary year by presenting Kenneth Derlow’s lithograph Min Bild av Birgit (My Picture of Birgit) in the stairwell of the main foyer.

Read more about the exhibition (opens in new window)