Published: 06 August 2012
Category: Artists

On 3 August, the award-winning young Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin stepped in to replace Yuja Wang for a recital at the Verbier Festival. The performance took place at 7pm at the Salle des Combins with the following programme:

This was Kozhukhin’s fourth appearance at the festival since excelling in the Verbier Festival Academy in 2001. In 2003 he won the Acaedmy’s ‘Prix d’Honneur’.

Kozhukhin performed Pictures at an Exhibition in July as part of the City of London Festival, as part of a double recital with Tchaikovsky Competition-winning cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan. His performance drew critical praise:

“Kozhukhin’s intensity was expressed through colour and wit and a keen sense of pacing, particularly in the closing piece, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. He brought out the humour in the Ballad of the Unhatched Chicks’ unexpected stops and starts, and the wicked glints in The Hut on Fowl’s Legs. The final picture, the Great Gate of Kiev, pushes some pianists beyond their limit. But in Kozhukhin’s hands it rose to the final peroration with magnificent, unforced grandeur.”
Daily Telegraph

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