Igor Levit Back on Road But Post-pandemic Far From Normal

Russian-German pianist Igor Levit and French conductor Stephane Deneve with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor Concerto) during the televised Nobel Prize Concert 2020 at the Stockholm Concert Hall, in Stockholm, Sweden, on Dec. 8, 2020. Levit will perform Shostakovich’s 24 “Preludes and Fugues" at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night, part of a quick U.S. tour that takes him to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, on Sunday. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP, File)

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By Associated Press

October 17, 2022 at 6:53 PM UTC

Updated on

October 18, 2022 at 2:31 PM UTC

New York (AP) -- Igor Levit arrives at Carnegie Hall changed by the pandemic.

“We are not on our way back to normal. I don’t think we should be on our way back to anything. There is no normal out there," the 35-year-old pianist says, citing uncertainty around the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, energy shortages and climate change. "It’s not like we’re going through normal. So I find traveling and playing both very intense and yet incredibly rewarding. I cherish every concert I play in a way maybe I was a little bit less aware of pre-pandemic.”