UCSB Arts & Lectures will present the Santa Barbara recital debut of pianist Igor Levit at 7 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 9, at Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall.

Levit, who has made his mark on the classical music world as “one of the most probing, intelligent and accomplished artists of the new generation” (The New York Times), turned heads when he nearly swept the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition.

He also was the winner of Gramophone’s 2016 Recording of the Year award.
 
Levit’s program is scheduled to include: Frederic Rzewski: Dreams, Part II; and Beethoven: 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, op. 120.

Born in Nizhni Nowgorod, Russia, in 1987, Levit moved with his family at age 8 to Germany, where he completed his piano studies at Hannover Academy of Music, Theatre and Media in 2009 with the highest academic and performance scores in the history of the institute.

As the youngest participant in the 2005 Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, Levit won the Silver Prize, the Prize for Best Performer of Chamber Music, the Audience Favorite Prize and the Prize for Best Performer of Contemporary Music.
 
Tickets prices are $30 for the general public, $9 for students with a valid student ID. A Hann Hall facility fee will be added to each ticket price.
 
For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.