“It really was a special experience to play on a piano that responds to you, talks to you and enables you to work wonders. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Three cheers for Bechstein!”
Michail Lifits
Michail Lifits, praised for "his inspirational tone and his wise maturity", as well as for "the breathtaking beauty of his playing" and already compared to the legendary Wilhelm Kempff, has increasingly gained public attention since his debut with Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto at age 13. He had already collected first prizes in international competitions in Italy and the USA, such as Pianello val Tidone (2003), Treviso (2004), Monza (2006) and Hilton Head (2009) when he won the 57th Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano (2009). Solo engagements have brought Michail Lifits to Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, to the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, the NCPA in Beijing, the Tonhalle in Zurich and the Sala Verdi in Milan. He makes regular appearances at international festivals in France, Germany, Poland, Italy and the United States, including the Festival d'Auvers-sur-Oise, the Annecy Festival, the Kissinger Sommer, Rheingau Music Festival, the Ruhr Piano Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Chopin Festival in Duzhniki Zdroj. In 2011 he made his debut with the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO). The same year saw his debut in London's Wigmore Hall, in the `Keyboard Trust Prizewinners Series' which exhibits a selection of new talent. Critics described his performance as "Perfection itself". Since 2011 Michail Lifits is signed to DECCA/Universal Classics. In 2012 DECCA released his debut CD dedicated to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
photos © Felix Broede, Gregor Willmes
