Pavel Kolesnikov

Pavel Kolesnikov (Novosibirsk, 25 February 1989) is a Russian pianist and chamber musician. He worked together with choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaker on a project around the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Kolesnikov was born in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, as the son of two music-loving scientists. He began playing piano and violin at the age of six. His first piano teacher was Olga Gvozdeva, who knew how to awaken his enthusiasm for the instrument. When he was nine years old, he already gave recitals in the region around Novosibirsk. At the age of 15, he made a resolute choice for the piano and went to the conservatory of Novosibirsk, where he studied from 2004 to 2007 with Mary Lebenzon. He continued his piano studies at the Moscow Conservatory, with Nikolai Lugansky and Sergei Dorensky. After that, he went to the Royal College of Music in London, to study with Norma Fisher. At the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels, he studied with Maria João Pires. He also participated in masterclasses with Dmitri Bashkirov, Stephen Kovacevich, Emile Naumoff, Renaud Capuçon, Christian Frank and Mario delli Ponti.
In 2012, BBC Radio 3 named him New Generation Artist. In 2014, he signed an exclusive contract with Hyperion Records. He made his Proms debut with a performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 2 with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and conductor Ilan Volkov.