PavelKolesnikov &SamsonTsoy

The 2023/24 seasons sees pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy debut as a duo at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Rotterdam’s De Doelen, Ghent’s De Bijloke and Berlin’s Konzerthaus, as well as returning to Wigmore Hall. These dates follow appearances last season at the Aldeburgh Festival, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw and London’s Southbank and Barbican centres – the latter in Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the City of Birmingham Orchestra as part of Europe’s first Classical Pride Concert.

For both artists, space and setting is a crucial element in their music-making. During the pandemic they performed Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen at a former multistorey car park in London (Bold Tendencies), while this summer they brought back concerts at Aldeburgh’s historic Jubilee Theatre where they placed the audience on stage while performing Bach and Kurtág on upright pianos placed in the stalls. Other presentations include Prokofiev’s Cinderella in the Muziekgebouw loading bay and performances in galleries across Europe. Their next project will be a digital installation at Antwerp’s MoMu combining choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Schubert’s Fantasie.

Described as “piano magicians” by The Arts Desk, Pavel and Samson have been living and working together ever since their early student days. In 2019, the duo co-founded the Ragged Music Festival, which provides a stripped-down environment for artists to explore a dialogue between music, architecture, and visual arts. Originally based in London’s Ragged School Museum, the festival has expanded internationally with the first edition at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam in 2023. Over the last four years it has welcomed visual artists Hélène Binet, Antoni Malinowski, Eva Vermandel and musicians Alina Ibragimova, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Mark Padmore, Lawrence Power, Elena Stikhina and Doric String Quartet. The Festival was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Awards in 2021.