Born in Russia in 1987 and raised in Germany, Igor Levit studied piano at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover and now lives in Berlin. The master pianist focuses primarily on Beethoven’s works, both on stage and in his CD recordings - his highly acclaimed recording of Beethoven’s complete 32 piano sonatas is the most recent proof of this.Levit performs worldwide with renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic, in addition to his solo recitals.In 2019, Levit accepted a professorship for piano at his former training center in Hanover in order to pass on his experience to the next generation of artists.For his socio-political commitment, Igor Levit was awarded the International Beethoven Prize in 2019 and the Federal Cross of Merit by German President Steinmeier in 2020.

W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) created a piece of music history with this unique stage work, which since its premiere in September 1791 has become one of the most popular and most performed operas worldwide.When the theater and bon vivant Emanuel Schickaneder approached the financially and psychologically troubled composer in 1790 and presented him with a fairy-tale libretto, Mozart was immediately taken with it and added the masonic ideals and rites that were fashionable at the time. These gave the “Magic Flute” a completely different meaning and transformed the piece from a colorful magic pose into an almost testamentary appeal to humanity - entirely in the style of the spirit of the Viennese Classicism. Musically, this great German opera or Singspiel unites different styles such as opera seria, opera buffa and tragédie lyrique. Mozart’s genius united the French romance, the Italian aria and the German Lied to a fascinating kaleidoscope that inspires young and old alike. Popular arias from the "Magic Flute" such as “The Birdcatcher I am”, “Hell’s Revenge is boiling in my Heart”, or “This Portrait is Enchantingly Beautiful” are easily accessible to everyone. Goethe attested that this music alone would have provided a worthy accompaniment to his Faust.

“Le nozze di figaro” marked the beginning of the happy and fruitful collaboration between W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, which was to bring both success and artistic satisfaction. Although Da Ponte, as a precautionary measure and in view of the sharp censorship, dispensed with the biting sarcasm of Beaumarchais’ original, which served as the model for the new opera buffa, there was still enough fuel in it to deal with a major theme of the time: The examination of the complex relationships between the social classes, or rather the discrimination of the lower classes by the upper ones.While Count Almaviva embodies a reactionary representative of the nobility, the shrewd Figaro is presented as a representative of the rising third class. Two forces face each other here, each claiming power in pre-revolutionary Europe. Mozart found in this passionate and ironic piece so much of the shame and disappointments he had experienced during his artistic life that he let all his bitter experiences and mental anguish flow into the composition.Despite the explosive theme, the premiere performance in Vienna in 1786 under the reign of Emperor Joseph II was a great success. Today "Le nozze di figaro" is one of the most popular and most performed operas worldwide.