Pavel Kolesnikov: Chopin Nocturnes

Pavel Kolesnikov returns to St George's Bristol on Friday 13 November, with a programme of Chopin nocturnes. It's not just a run-through of the pieces, though; he's arranged them into three distinct groups — I Dreams, II Memories and III Visions — so the evening follows a bit of a narrative rather than just one nocturne after another.

Kolesnikov is Siberian-born and has a pedigree that spans a few different cities. He studied at the Moscow State Conservatory with Sergey Dorensky, at London's Royal College of Music with Norma Fisher, and at Brussels' Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Maria João Pires. He picked up the Honens Prize in 2012, and he's widely regarded as one of the finest Chopin exponents on the planet.

People describe his approach in a few different ways. The Guardian called him a 'sculptor in sound', and the Arts Desk described his take on the material as 'unpredictable magic' and one of the most extraordinary long-term crescendos they've heard in a piano recital. The Telegraph put it as having 'brilliance, but also a caressing, almost sly intimacy'. It's that combination of the big, sculpted sound and the smaller, more intimate moments that usually marks out his playing.

The concert is in the Main Hall at St George's Bristol, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets start from £10, with a 9% booking fee if you get them online or over the phone, and a £2.50 postage fee where applicable. It's suitable for ages 12 and over.