Instrumentalists & Ensembles
Ignat Solzhenitsyn
— Piano
Mostly this technically daunting sonata is wild and raucous, with arm-blurring octaves and steely bursts of thick, dissonant chords, culminating in what could be a perpetual-motion toccata. Mr. Solzhenitsyn played with fearlessness and command.
—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
Solzhenitsyn is a musician's musician and a pianist's pianist […] The Mozart was breathtaking […] The performance was immaculately detailed, with beautiful tone, utterly transparent in voicing. It was some of the most beautiful and intelligent Mozart this listener has ever heard.
—Michael Manning, Boston Globe
His technical prowess is astonishing - especially in the fiendish variations designed for two harpsichord keyboards on which a single piano entail a dizzying amount of hand-crossing... Most haunting of all, in a way, was the final return of the Aria, now enfused with a bittersweet air of nostalgia for the entire journey we had just traversed. The notes were the same, but the difference in spirit was extraordinarily moving.
—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
About
Recognized as one of today's most gifted artists, and enjoying an active career as both pianist and conductor, Ignat Solzhenitsyn's lyrical and poignant interpretations have won him critical acclaim throughout the world.
In recent seasons, his extensive touring schedule in the United States and Europe has included concerto performances with numerous major orchestras, including those of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Baltimore, Washington, Montreal, Toronto, London, Paris, Israel . . . , and Sydney; and collaborations with such distinguished conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, James Conlon, James DePreist, Charles Dutoit, Lawrence Foster, Valery Gergiev, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gerard Schwarz, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Maxim Shostakovich, Yuri Temirkanov and David Zinman. In addition to his recital appearances in the United States at New York’s 92nd Street Y, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, St. Paul's Ordway Theatre, Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium, Salt Lake City’s Abravanel Hall, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and many others from coast to coast; Solzhenitsyn has also given numerous recitals in Europe and the Far East in such major musical centers as London, Milan, Zurich, Moscow, Tokyo, and Sydney.
An avid chamber musician, Solzhenitsyn has collaborated with the Emerson, Borodin, Brentano, and St. Petersburg String Quartets, and in four-hand recital with Mitsuko Uchida. He frequently appears at international festivals, including Salzburg, Evian, Ludwigsburg, Caramoor, Ojai, Marlboro, Nizhniy Novgorod and Moscow’s famed December Evenings.
Ignat Solzhenitsyn is Conductor Laureate of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, having previously served as its Music Director for six years. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Much in demand as a guest conductor, Solzhenitsyn has recently led the orchestras of Baltimore, Dallas, North Carolina, Seattle, Toronto, and the Mariinsky Opera, and partnered with such world-renowned soloists as Richard Goode, Gary Graffman, Sylvia McNair, Steven Isserlis, and Mitsuko Uchida.
A winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ignat Solzhenitsyn serves on the piano faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. He has been featured on many radio and television specials, including CBS Sunday Morning and ABC’s Nightline. Born in Moscow, Mr. Solzhenitsyn resides in New York City with his wife and three children.
