Evgeny Kissin

Pianist Evgeny Kissin is a major avatar of the Russian virtuoso keyboard tradition. Kissin parlayed a career as a child prodigy into international stardom. Born on October 10, 1971, in Moscow, Kissin started playing the piano at age two. Admitted at age six to the Gnessin School of Music, an institution for gifted children in the USSR's vaunted talent-nurturing system, Kissin studied with Anna Pavlovna Kantor. He is notable in having had only a single teacher; at times, she lived and traveled with Kissin and his family. He made his debut at ten with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orc...