Pavel Kolesnikov BEETHOVEN

London-based Pavel Kolesnikov was born into a Siberian family of scientists and studied both the piano and violin for ten years, before concentrating solely on the piano. He went on to study at the Moscow State Conservatory with Sergey Dorensky, London’s Royal College of Music with Norma Fisher, and at Brussels’ Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Maria João Pires thanks to generous support from Mr Christopher D Budden, the RCM Scholarship Foundation and the Hattori Foundation. During his studies he was awarded the Milstein Medal and the RCM Benjamin Britten Piano Fellowship supported by the Philip Loubser Foundation.

Since becoming Prize Laureate of the Honens Prize for Piano in 2012, Pavel has performed extensively across the globe including at such venues as Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Melbourne Recital Centre, Saitama Theatre in Tokyo, and the Louvre Auditorium in Paris. Following his Wigmore Hall debut in January 2014, The Daily Telegraph gave his recital a rare five-star review declaring it ‘one of the most memorable of such occasions London has witnessed in a while’.

Pavel was a member of BBC Radio 3’s prestigious New Generation Artists scheme from 2014 to 2016. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2016 performing Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto No 2 conducted by Ilan Volkov, and was invited to return in 2017 to give an all-Chopin solo recital. He maintains a busy career as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic and Russian National orchestras, and the City of Birmingham, Toronto, BBC, Czech National and Flanders symphony orchestras.

His debut studio recording, of Tchaikovsky’s The seasons for Hyperion, was met with critical acclaim, and his second album, of Chopin Mazurkas, won a Diapason d’Or and a Gramophone Award nomination whilst earning Pavel a place in The Daily Telegraph’s ‘Cultural Best of 2016’.

Pavel believes that arts are best understood in their multitude rather then in separation and isolation. Painting and photography are areas of particular interest for him, as are fashion and perfumery. He is an avid collector of fine perfume and specimens in his collection date from the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present day.