Pavel Kolesnikov won the world’s largest piano prize: $100,000 plus a career-development program worth $500,000, three years ago in Calgary.
Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov was 23 when he won the Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary three years ago.
Since then, he has debuted at London's Wigmore Hall ("one of the most memorable of such occasions London has witnessed in a while," the Telegraph wrote in a glowing five-star review); Zankel Hall at New York's Carnegie Hall; and made his debut studio recording ("that the impressive young … pianist … loves this suite comes through in his elegant playing," The New York Times wrote).
He has debuted with many orchestras, including the London Philharmonic and Russia's National Philharmonic (his mother and grandmother travelled from Siberia, where he was born, to see him play).
"It completely changed my life," Kolesnikov says of winning the world's largest piano prize: $100,000 plus a career-development program worth $500,000, awarded every three years to a twentysomething emerging artist.
While Kolesnikov – who was back in Calgary last week to help launch the 2015 event – has reservations about competition as a standard for music-making, he acknowledges that this is inevitable in a contemporary world.
"I think Honens is one of the few organizations that … does everything to avoid all the downsides of this competition business."
Finals for the 2015 Honens Piano Competition take place at Calgary's Jack Singer Concert Hall on Thursday and Friday evening, with the winner to be announced Friday, Sept 11.
Marsha Lederman