Portland Piano International Presents Pavel Kolesnikov & Samson Tsoy in Duo Recital, January 4
Trust, intimacy, and friendship take center stage as Russian piano partners perform Schubert four-hands and Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances—the masterwork Rachmaninov and Vladimir Horowitz performed together as friends.
Sunday, January 4, 2026 • 4:00 PM
PSU's Lincoln Performance Hall
PORTLAND, OR — On January 4, Portland audiences will witness something increasingly rare in concert halls: two artists who don't just play together—they think, breathe, and create as one. Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy bring to Portland Piano International (PPI) the kind of musical intimacy that emerges only from years of trust, friendship, and shared creative vision. What you'll experience isn't merely virtuosity; it's the charged electricity of two souls merging into a single artistic voice. Described as "piano magicians" by The Arts Desk and celebrated for their "electrifying intimacy" by The Guardian, Kolesnikov and Tsoy have spent years living, working, and creating music side by side—and you'll hear that depth of connection in every phrase.
Piano duo performance demands a level of intimacy you simply won't find in solo recitals. In four-hands repertoire—where both pianists share the same keyboard—the challenge intensifies exponentially. Hands cross and interweave mere inches apart; a single moment of hesitation would shatter the illusion. There's no room for ego, only trust. "It's a shared heart, a shared soul that you somehow need to magically achieve," Tsoy told The New York Times in 2024. When Kolesnikov and Tsoy take the stage, watch for those moments when you can no longer distinguish where one pianist ends and the other begins—when they become not two artists, but one four-handed organism creating music together.
The first half immerses you entirely in the intimate world of four-hands Schubert—music the composer created specifically for friends to play together in salon settings. You'll hear the tempestuous Lebensstürme ("Storms of Life"), D. 947, where dramatic cascades give way to moments of tender lyricism. The buoyant Rondo in D Major, D. 608, follows with its infectious dance rhythms, before the deeply expressive Fantasie in F Minor, D. 940, closes the half with some of Schubert's most poignant melodic writing. These pieces reveal his genius for musical conversation: one voice poses a question, the other responds; two minds think as one. Listen for those magical moments when the boundary between the two pianists dissolves entirely.
After intermission, the duo turns to Sergei Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, op. 45, a work steeped in its own history of musical friendship. Rachmaninov composed these dances in 1940—his final major work—and created a two-piano version that he performed with his friend, the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Kolesnikov and Tsoy honor that tradition of friendship, bringing to life a score that brims with orchestral color, sweeping melodies, and the rich harmonic language of Rachmaninov's mature style. You'll hear echoes of Russian church bells, waltzes that seem to drift from another era, and rhythms that surge with unstoppable vitality. The work quotes from Rachmaninov's own First Symphony and incorporates Orthodox liturgical chants, making it both a summation of his artistic life and a deeply personal farewell to his homeland.
Based in London, Kolesnikov and Tsoy have been artistic partners since their early student days. In 2024, they released their debut album as a duo on Harmonia Mundi, featuring works by Schubert and Desyatnikov. The recording earned rave reviews from The Guardian, Gramophone Magazine, and Le Monde, with BBC Music Magazine calling it "magical." The album also received the prestigious Diapason D'Or. Recent season highlights include debuts at Bozar in Brussels, Saffron Hall, and Festival Bach de Montreal, appearances at Carnegie Hall and Berlin's Konzerthaus, and returns to Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw and London's Wigmore Hall.
For both artists, space and setting play crucial roles in their music-making. During the pandemic, they performed Messiaen's Visions de l'Amen at a former multistorey car park in London (Bold Tendencies). In 2023, they reimagined Aldeburgh's historic Jubilee Theatre, placing the audience on stage while performing Bach and Kurtág on upright pianos positioned in the stalls. Other presentations have included Prokofiev's Cinderella in the Muziekgebouw loading bay and performances in galleries across Europe.
In 2019, the duo co-founded the Ragged Music Festival, which provides a stripped-down environment for artists to explore dialogue between music, architecture, and visual arts. Originally based in London's Ragged School Museum, the festival expanded internationally with its first Amsterdam edition at the Muziekgebouw in 2023. Over four years, it has welcomed visual artists Hélène Binet, Antoni Malinowski, and Eva Vermandel, alongside musicians including Alina Ibragimova, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Mark Padmore, Lawrence Power, Elena Stikhina, and the Doric String Quartet. The Festival was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award in 2021.
Kolesnikov & Tsoy, Program
Franz Schubert
Lebensstürme, D. 947
Rondo in D Major, D. 608
Fantasie in F Minor, D. 940
Sergei Rachmaninov
Symphonic Dances, op. 45
Tickets & Information: portlandpiano.org/kolesnikov/tsoy-duo
Venue: Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Date/Time: Sunday, January 4, 2026 • 4:00 PM
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MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Eifert, 347.741.1913
jonathan.eifert@goldsoundmedia.com
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PORTLAND PIANO INTERNATIONAL has presented more than 220 artists in recital and through outreach activities. Some of the greatest pianists in the world of music have played for Portland audiences because of this organization. While pianists have many opportunities to play the concerto repertoire, this is one of only a handful of recital series that remains devoted to the solo piano recital. Portland Piano International is a vital part of Portland's quality cultural life and it has consistently garnered praise from both the local and national media, heralded a "consistently brilliant Piano Recital Series" (Willamette Week) and "one of this city's musical treasures" (The Oregonian).