Kit Armstrong

Ever since Kit Armstrong stepped onto the international stage nearly twenty years ago, he has captivated the music world. Few other young artists – Kit Armstrong turns 30 in 2022 – are as versatile and universally educated as he is. Hailed by the New York Times as a "brilliant pianist" who "combines musical maturity and youthful audacity in his exceptional playing," Kit Armstrong has developed a unique artistic signature. His intense engagement with music naturally intertwines with other arts, as well as with natural sciences and mathematics. His repertoire spans from the 16th century, to the beginnings of keyboard music with the great English virginalists, all the way to the 21st century. His programs are a unique blend of musical discoveries alongside the great masterpieces of piano literature. Thus, it is a logical step for Kit Armstrong to present works by William Byrd and John Bull, the founding fathers of music for keyboard instruments, on his debut album with Deutsche Grammophon, thereby contributing to the wider recognition of this music. With their contrasting musical personalities – pure, complex beauty on one side and passionate self-expression on the other – Byrd and Bull together created the universe that has defined instrumental music ever since. The album will be released in July 2021. Exclusive interviews with Kit Armstrong Watch on STAGE+ For the upcoming seasons, Kit Armstrong has developed a cycle of 500 years of piano music. In five programs, he takes his audience on a journey through five centuries of piano music from 1520 to 2020, from William Byrd to the 21st century. The musical currents, influences, and cross-references unfold particularly impressively for listeners within the chronology he has conceived. Kit Armstrong will also further deepen his engagement with Mozart and his love for his work. The piano concertos will play a central role, as will the cyclical performance of all piano sonatas. Furthermore, a focus will be placed on the performance of all violin sonatas with violinist Renaud Capuçon. Armstrong collaborates with many of the world's most sought-after conductors, including Christian Thielemann, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Kent Nagano, Manfred Honeck, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mario Venzago, and Robin Ticciati. He has performed with some of the world's best orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He was Artist-in-Residence at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2018 and "Artist-in-Resonance" at the Musikkollegium Winterthur, and is a long-standing partner of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Recent solo recitals have taken him to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Prinzregententheater in Munich, the Klavierfestival Ruhr, the Philharmonie de Luxembourg, and the Kölner Philharmonie. As a passionate chamber musician, Kit Armstrong has developed close artistic partnerships with other leading instrumental and vocal soloists. Together with Renaud Capuçon, he performed all Mozart violin sonatas at the Mozartwoche Salzburg and in Berlin's Boulez Saal. He has performed important Lied repertoire with Christiane Karg, Julian Prégardien, and Benjamin Appl. Armstrong has also performed organ concertos at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Kölner Philharmonie, and the Konzerthaus Wien. Edition Peters publishes his compositions. Commissions for his works include the Gewandhaus Leipzig and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. When Kit Armstrong acquired a church in the small northern French town of Hirson, near the Belgian border, in 2012, a unique success story began, which has since garnered significant media attention. With the Church of St. Thérèse, he has succeeded in creating a socio-cultural center that regularly hosts concerts and interdisciplinary projects for both regional and supra-regional audiences. Armstrong's previous solo albums include Liszt's 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 the world has been waiting for" – Kulturradio RBB), both released on Sony Classical. The audiovisual live recording of a solo recital featuring Bach's Goldberg Variations and earlier works by Byrd, Bull, and Sweelinck at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, released by Unitel/C major in 2017, received worldwide acclaim as one of the outstanding DVD recordings (Instrumental Choice December 2017, BBC Music Magazine). Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Armstrong studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London. At age 7, he began studying composition at Chapman University and physics at California State University, later also chemistry and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, and mathematics at Imperial College London. He earned a Master's degree in mathematics from the University of Paris VI. Alfred Brendel, who has mentored Kit Armstrong since 2005, attributes to him "an understanding of the great piano literature as a unity of feeling and intellect, freshness and refinement." The unique relationship between Armstrong and Brendel was captured in the film Set the Piano Stool on Fire by British director Mark Kidel. May 2021