He has a wide repertoire and is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic era, particularly those of Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Modest Mussorgsky and Ludwig van Beethoven.

He is commonly viewed as a great successor of the Russian piano school because of the depth, lyricism and poetic quality of his interpretations.

In 1987, at age sixteen, he made his West European debut at the Berlin Festival as well as his United Kingdom debut, alongside conductor Valery Gergiev and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival.

He has also performed chamber music with Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev, Gidon Kremer, James Levine, Mischa Maisky, Thomas Quasthoff, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Karita Mattila, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Joshua Bell, Leonidas Kavakos, Natalia Gutman, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Spivakov, the Emerson String Quartet and others.

[6][7] Three CDs of Kissin's recitals from the classical and contemporary Yiddish poetry have been issued by the Forward Association.

Kissin has composed numerous musical works which have been published by Henle Verlag,[11] including Four Piano Pieces, Op.

[citation needed] Kissin was declared a foreign agent by the Russian government in July 2024.

That same year his Carnegie Hall debut album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance, though he lost to pianist Alicia de Larrocha.

In December 2003 in Moscow, he received the Shostakovich Award, one of Russia's highest musical honors.