KIRILL RICHTER | COMPOSER AND PIANIST
The young Russian composer and pianist Kirill Richter is the most prominent representative of Russia’s neoclassical music scene right now.
Kirill’s career really took off in 2016 with his outstanding performance at the Pillar Hall of the House of Unions, Moscow. In this legendary concert venue, which has historically hosted all of the great Soviet performers, the audience rose to give his outstanding performance a standing ovation. The following year Kirill continued his great success with his several dozen solo piano concerts and appearances with orchestras; he composed scores for feature films and movie shorts, for theatre and choreographic productions.
His performances and compositions have attracted the attention of the European press and music industry – already having received a number of offers of recording contracts and been invited to perform at iconic European venues such as the Elbphilarmonie in Hamburg.
When the American TV broadcaster Fox Sports invited Kirill 2018 to compose the score for their official theme to FIFA’s 2018 World Cup, the result was the infectious, driving score entitled “Where Angels Fears to Thread”, which has become the anthem of this global sporting event for TV audiences in both North and South America.
In addition, Kirill composed soundtracks for the sci-fi blockbuster A Rough Draft, based on Sergei Lukyanenko’s novel, and for Ivan Tverdovsky’s drama Jumpman, which received a number of prizes.
Nevertheless, the principal event of 2018 for Kirill Richter will be the release of his debut album, Chronos, which has taken several years to produce. “This album talks about my relationship with time”, explains the composer: “It contains my reflections on time’s ‘physical’ states in our life, be that a memory of those who are no longer with us, an abstract notion of history as a whirlpool of events, or a mythological perception of time as a living creature that humans can bargain with.”
Whether performed in small, low-key places in front of hundreds or grand concert halls in front of thousands, in Russia or abroad, his nimble, emotional pieces invariably impress audiences, regardless of the venue. Judging by the meteoric rise of his career, there is little doubt Kirill Richter has a very bright and interesting future ahead of him.
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