"Noble clarity that doesn’t compromise the richness of the tone; great dynamic range with perfectly balanced projection; reliable and comfortable action; but beyond all personality and that magical balance between the quality of tone and feel of the action that signals a great instrument and helps on stage to become one with music."
Pavel Kolesnikov
London-based Pavel Kolesnikov was born in Siberia into a family of scientists. He studied both the piano and violin for ten years, before concentrating solely on the piano. He has given recitals at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, as part of the international Piano Series, and at Kings Place, London.
He has studied at Moscow State Conservatory with Sergey Dorensky, at London’s Royal College of Music with Norma Fisher and at Brussels’ Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Maria João Pires thanks to the generous support of Mr Christopher D Budden, the RCM Scholarship Foundation and Hattori Foundation. Pavel is the recipient of the Milstein Medal and is the RCM Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow and was a member of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists from 2014 to 2016. He received the Young Talent (piano) Award for 2019 from the UK Critics’ Circle.
Pavel has performed with the Toronto Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Russian National Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé, the BBC Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has undertaken UK and European tours with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony and Flanders Symphony Orchestras. Pavel made his BBC Proms debut performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 2 with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland conducted by Ilan Volkov. He also joined the BBC Proms at the inaugural event in Australia.
"One of greatest joys of being a concert pianist is meeting an instrument that has got personality. An instrument that is not simply convenient and comfortable to play, but one that inspires, obeys yet challenges and makes you hear in a new way. I am a passionate admirer of Bechstein pianos of the first half of the 20th century - for me they are simply unparalleled for their exquisite tone and the finesse of the action. I’ve been so excited to watch Bechstein re-emerge in the last few years with the instruments that both carry great DNA and challenge the conventional. The piano I used in my last recital at Wigmore had those rare qualities I was looking for - noble clarity that doesn’t compromise the richness of the tone; great dynamic range with perfectly balanced projection; reliable and comfortable action; but beyond all personality and that magical balance between the quality of tone and feel of the action that signals a great instrument and helps on stage to become one with music." (2020)
Photos © Agentur, Eva Vermandel
