Pavel Kolesnikov

Pavel Kolesnikov earned designation as a BBC Radio New Generation Artist in 2014, positioning him among the most adventurous young Russian and Eastern European pianists to gain traction on London's dynamic keyboard circuit. He has established himself as a mainstay on the Hyperion roster while maintaining an ongoing artistic and personal partnership with pianist Samson Tsoy. The duo issued a 2024 album devoted to four-hand works by Schubert and Leonid Desyatnikov.

Born February 25, 1989, in Novosibirsk—then part of the Soviet Union—the pianist encountered a thriving classical environment in that isolated Central Asian setting from an early age. He pursued parallel training on piano and violin before committing exclusively to the former only in his mid-teens. Travel to Moscow in 2007 to attend the Tchaikovsky Competition led to enrollment at the Moscow State Conservatory, where he met Tsoy and the two began their relationship. Recognition arrived swiftly with his naming as a President's Order Young Talent of Russia during that first year. His own entry into the Tchaikovsky Competition brought a Special Jury Prize in 2011, and victory at Canada's Honens Prize the next year broadened his profile among programmers; the BBC New Generation Artist appointment, held from 2014 to 2016, further extended that visibility.

Kolesnikov relocated to London in 2012, motivated by a wish to move beyond the predominantly romantic Russian tradition toward a more eclectic stylistic synthesis. He continued studies with Maria João Pires in Belgium and began securing recital and chamber engagements in Britain, Canada, and the United States. A favorably received debut recital took place at Wigmore Hall in 2014, after which he appeared at major international venues including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Louvre in Paris, and Seoul's Kumho Art Hall.

Recordings of his Honens performances constituted his first commercial release in 2013. Hyperion signed him the following year, issuing an album centered on Tchaikovsky's The Seasons. His second Hyperion project, a 2016 collection of Chopin mazurkas featuring bold and atmospheric accounts of pieces such as the Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4, secured the Diapason d'Or and marked his critical breakthrough. From the late 2010s onward he has released an album annually on the label, among them the 2020 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. His programming encompasses far more than Russian repertoire both on disc and in concert. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kolesnikov and Tsoy produced joint online broadcasts that led them to focus on duo repertoire; their album of Schubert and Leonid Desyatnikov works appeared on Harmonia Mundi in 2024.