Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

For Igor Levit, there seems to be nothing less than going the whole hog. When he gets involved with a cosmos of works, he does so as intensively as possible. The name Johannes Brahms stands above the worlds in which the exceptional pianist currently prefers to spend his time, and his Brahms interpretations in the celebrated double bill in February 2025 will still be well remembered by Frankfurt audiences. Levit readily admits his deep affection for the music of the Romantic composer, emphasising its emotional richness: "I experience happiness, I experience sadness, melancholy, being in love, loneliness, longing - like a kaleidoscope of what we humans are capable of feeling. Nevertheless, Brahms' monumental First Piano Concerto is always one thing above all else for him: demanding. It takes and takes and takes," says Levit. Together with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, he rises to the challenge - and will allow us to peer into the heart of the notes. Just as Edward Elgar looked into the soul of a close friend in each of his enigmatic ‘Enigma Variations’.