Yoav Levanon Nominated for the "Young Artist of The Year" - Opus Klassik

Germany's most prestigious award for classical music

OPUS KLASSIK honors outstanding projects and artists who inspire, captivate, and set new standards in classical music. With 30 award categories, it reflects the rich diversity of today’s classical music scene.

Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & @, Totentanz

“The Liszt Concertos have had many recordings, with high-flying performances by pianists of the stature of Richter, Brendel and Zimerman . Yet Levanon makes his own distinctive mark.

….His daunting technique (that astonishing finger strength) allows him the fullest imaginative freedom, an audacity taken nonchalantly close to the edge, something as personal as it is audacious. Already he is liberated from the cares and concerns of other lesser pianists, free to do virtually anything…..”

Bryce Morrison, “The Art of Pianists”, 12 February 2025

“In the First , he details the contrasts and rhythms with a sense of balance and a radiant sound that, beyond an assertive technique, allows good taste to develop. Purity and vitality, two fundamental qualities, serve a loose and supple playing that wins support. In the Second , a noble freedom immediately emerges in the melody, superbly distilled, with tempered accents that always leave lyricism in the foreground. The Lisztian universe appears familiar to this young artist, who never seeks to pull the score to himself to make a gratuitous demonstration of it. It is controlled and constructed, with the emotion, also lyrical, that Levanon claims in his opening note; bravery is present when it is necessary, notably in the brilliant finale. These two excellent modern versions, which confirm a first-rate talent, are accompanied, in the same spirit, by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra…”

Jean Lacroix, Crescendo, December 11, 2024

“Levanon's extensive concert experience and his special relationship with Liszt's work are reflected in the captivating sovereignty and expressiveness of his playing, which attest to the astonishing maturity and high musicality of the still very young newcomer: In all three works he proves himself to be a true virtuoso who does not demonstratively display his perfect technique, but rather, like a highly sensitive lyricist and aesthete, elegantly and delicately formulates the inner narrative thread and the great melodic line, always in close, breathing dialogue with the perfectly tuned, compassionate Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.
At the same time, he effortlessly manages to integrate the dark sides and demonic outbursts of Liszt's heroic, pathetic style, especially in the profound "Dance of Death" paraphrase, into his poetic narrative flow with heroic rigor, so that the mystical magic and utopian power of Liszt's new aesthetic push the usually dominant virtuoso fury into the background. We experience the musical poet and philosopher Liszt and the metamorphosis of the old concert form – and Levanon reveals to us the deeper meaning of Liszt's musical message”.

Attila Csampai, RONDO, Novemebr 23, 2024