Media

Piano virtuoso Pavel Kolesnikov collaborates with Hong Kong Sinfonietta
to present Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 and Bach Goldberg Variations

For immediate release
15 Feb 2023

Widely praised for his “abundance of intelligence, sensitivity, musicality, imagination, and sheer mastery” (Gramophone), piano virtuoso Pavel Kolesnikov has established himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation since winning the 2012 Honens International Piano Competition. This March, he will make his début with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Music Director Emeritus Yip Wing-sie, playing Rachmaninov’s well-loved Piano Concerto No 3. He will also perform his acclaimed interpretation of Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations in recital.

Currently based in London, pianist Pavel Kolesnikov has performed with leading orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonia and Russian National Philharmonic orchestras. On 9 Mar (Thu), in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth, Kolesnikov will play the composer’s timeless and technically devilish Piano Concerto No 3 with Hong Kong Sinfonietta under the baton of Music Director Emeritus Yip Wing-sie. The concert also features the world première of Hong Kong composer Lam Lai‘s There is No Place Like Home (Beta) for orchestra and electronics, illustrating an imaginary journey from earth to the vivid blue ice giant Neptune, in which Lam herself will perform the part of the electronics.

Pavel Kolesnikov will also bring to the Hong Kong audience Bach’s iconic Goldberg Variations in his recital on 7 Mar (Tue). Praised as “natural, logical, simply expressed and beautifully revealed in all its intimate complexity” by BBC Record Review, his interpretation of the masterpiece is sure to impress and definitely not to be missed.

Tickets are now on sale at URBTIX and POPTICKET – enjoy 20% off when you purchase full-price tickets to both performances!

Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Great Piano Concertos: Pavel Kolesnikov Plays Rachmaninov No 3

9 Mar 2023 (Thursday) 8pm
Hong Kong City Hall
$420, $280, $160

Music Director Emeritus/Conductor: Yip Wing-sie
Piano: Pavel Kolesnikov
Composer/Electronics: Lam Lai

Programme
Lam Lai – There is No Place Like Home (Beta) (world première)
Commissioned by Hong Kong Sinfonietta with sponsorship from CASH Music Fund
Shostakovich – Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op 110a
Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Op 30

Pavel Kolesnikov Piano Recital: Goldberg Variations

7 Mar 2023 (Tuesday) 8pm
Hong Kong City Hall
$400, $260, $150

Piano: Pavel Kolesnikov

Programme
Bach – Goldberg Variations, BWV988

Half-price tickets available for full-time students, senior citizens, people with disabilities and their minder, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients
10% discount for group bookings of 4 or more standard tickets
Get a 20% off discount when you purchase full-price tickets to both concerts on 7 & 9 Mar.
Suitable for 6 years old or above
Tickets at URBTIX
Tickets online at POPTICKET (no handling fees)

***********************************************************************************************

Pavel Kolesnikov Piano

Winner of the Honens International Piano Competition in 2012, London-based pianist Pavel Kolesnikov was born in Siberia into a family of scientists. He studied both the piano and violin for 10 years, before concentrating solely on the piano, studying at Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Sergei Dorensky, at London’s Royal College of Music with Norma Fisher where he received the Milstein Medal and is the Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow, and at Brussels’ Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Maria João Pires, thanks to the generous support of Christopher D Budden, the RCM Scholarship Foundation and Hattori Foundation. He was a member of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists from 2014 to 2016.

Celebrated for his imaginative and thought-provoking programming which offers the listener a fresh, often unexpected perspective on familiar pieces, Kolesnikov has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London as part of the international Piano Series, Carnegie Hall in New York, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Louvre and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. In recent years, he has also performed at Festival International de Piano La Roque d’Anthéron, the Musiq3 Festival in Brussels, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse, and Aldeburgh Festival, among others.

An avid ensemble player, Kolesnikov regularly performs in piano duo with Samson Tsoy and collaborates with other musicians such as cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, the Hermès Quartet and the Calidore String Quartet. He is a founding member of Trio Aventure with Elina Buksha and Aurélien Pascal, and performed the complete cycle of Brahms’ violin and viola sonatas with Lawrence Power in 2019.

Kolesnikov records for Hyperion, with repertoire ranging from rarely heard harpsichord pieces by Louis Couperin to Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons. His album of Chopin’s Mazurkas won the Diapason d’Or de l’Annee, one of world’s most prestigious awards in the area of recording. His sixth album featuring Bach’s Goldberg Variations was released in 2020, and he collaborated with legendary Belgian dancer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker on a new choreographic work based on the Variations, which was premiered at the Vienna Festival and is currently touring the world.

In 2019, together with Tsoy, Kolesnikov started the Ragged Music Festival at the Ragged School Museum in London’s East End. In the same year, he was honoured with the Young Talent Award by The Critics’ Circle, praised for his “intensely personal interpretations, often daring in their originality” and his “crusading vision”.

***********************************************************************************************

Lam Lai Composer/Electronics

Lam Lai received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Composition and Electronic Music at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and further studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She has been expanding the meaning and properties of performance by employing various elements of theatre as she works on the concept of music, exploring a place where different concepts of the listening experience can coexist and advance towards a balance with other art forms. Her areas of interest as a composer are not limited to instrumental music, but also encompass multidisciplinary works predominantly featuring electronic sounds and performative elements. She also collaborates with theatre directors, choreographers, actors and visual artists, exploring indoor, outdoor and virtual performance spaces. She has worked with, among others, music theater company de Veenfabriek (Leiden, The Netherlands), SWR Experimentalstudio (Freiburg, Germany), New European Ensemble (The Hague, The Netherlands) and Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. She has participated in art festivals such as the Munich Biennale, Stuttgart DIE IRRITIERTE STADT, Musica nova Helsinki, Iceland CYCLE Music and Art Festival, Hong Kong New Vision Arts festival and Sonic Anchor.

Download Press Release