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ARTISTS
Kit Armstrong
Piano“While he commands an awesome technique,
primarily he really is a quintessential, sensitive lyricist. Uncorrupted by any
historicism, he takes full advantage of the tonal capabilities of the modern
piano without surrendering to them. On the basis of a touch that is perpetually
full of nuances, this is an approach to music characterized by emotion.”
(Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger)
“Here is a pianist who seems to be on his way
to lofty heights.”
(Alfred Brendel)
Described by the New York Times as a
“brilliant pianist” who combines “musical maturity and youthful daring in his
exceptional playing”, Kit Armstrong performs as a soloist with some of the
world’s most famous orchestras while maintaining an active career as a
recitalist and composer. Born in 1992, “Armstrong, the amazement-causing artist
who can only be described as a musical phenomenon” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
appears today at major international venues such as the Vienna Musikverein,
Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, NHK Hall
Tokyo and Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels.
Armstrong collaborates with many of the
world’s most sought-after conductors, including among others Christian
Thielemann, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Kent Nagano, Manfred Honeck,
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mario Venzago, and Robin Ticciati. He has appeared with some
of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Dresden
Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra, NHK
Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He was
artist-in-residence at the 2018 festival edition of Festspiele
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and “Artist-in-Resonance” at Musikkollegium Winterthur,
among other prestigious festivals, orchestras and concert halls.
In recent seasons Kit Armstrong performed
with the DSO Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, NDR Elbphilharmonie
Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Frankfurt Museum Orchestra, Baltimore
Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He is touring Europe
with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and with his long-standing partners of
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, one of the world’s leading early music
ensembles. Recent solo recitals brought him to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées,
Munich Prinzregententheater, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Philharmonie de Luxembourg
and Cologne Philharmonie.
A passionate chamber music recitalist, Kit
Armstrong has developed close artistic partnerships with other leading
instrumental and vocal artists. Together with Renaud Capuçon he presented the
complete Mozart violin sonatas at the Salzburg Mozartwoche Festival and at
Berlin’s Boulez Hall. With Christiane Karg, Julian Prégardien and others he has
performed important Lied repertoire. Armstrong also appeared as an organist in
recitals at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Cologne Philharmonie.
Armstrong’s solo albums include Liszt:
Symphonic Scenes (“handsomely demonstrates the startling rich context given to
the Mephisto Waltz when heard after the multi-dimensional Procession by Night”
– Gramophone) and Bach, Ligeti, Armstrong (“one of the very few CDs that the
world was waiting for” – Kulturradio RBB), both released by Sony Classical. The
live performance of a solo recital at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, released on DVD
in 2017 (by Unitel) under the title Kit Armstrong Performs Bach’s Goldberg
Variations and its Predecessors received worldwide praise as one of the most
outstanding performances on record (Instrumental Choice December 2017, BBC
Music Magazine). HI compositions are published by Edition Peters. Commissioners
include the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Musikkollegium Winterthur.
Born in Los Angeles, Armstrong studied at the
Curtis Institute of Music and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At 7, he
started studying composition at Chapman University and physics at California
State University, later also chemistry and mathematics at the University of
Pennsylvania and mathematics at the Imperial College London. He earned a
master’s degree in pure mathematics at the University of Paris VI. Alfred
Brendel, who has guided Armstrong as teacher and mentor since 2005, ascribes to
him “an understanding of the great piano works that combines freshness and
subtlety, emotion and intellect”. Their relationship was captured in the film
Set the Piano Stool on Fire by Mark Kidel.