Pavel Kolesnikov - New Music - Telegraph Pavel Kolesnikov is a 24 year-old Russian pianist of elfin looks who now lives in London, with an intriguing sound and personality that's hard to categorise. He's too thoughtful to be called brilliant, and too mercurial to be described as introverted. At last year's Honens piano competition at Calgary he was named "Laureate" (i.e. 1st prize-winner), which brought with it a carefully-chosen schedule of concerts in many of the world's most prestigious concert halls. Not professionally, but there was a lot of music in Kolesnikov's home. "I was born in Novosibirsk, which actually had a really good musical culture," he says. They have an opera house with one of the biggest stages in Europe, and as a child I used to go with my parents every month, it was such a thrill. I also listened to a lot of recordings at home, such as Schubert songs and great pianists, especially Richter. I was not a very extrovert child. One gets the sense that's an understatement. At the age of six he started violin lessons. In those days piano was my second instrument, and I didn't make the final choice of piano until I was 16. When did he fly the nest? Kolesnikov left for the Moscow Conservatoire in 2007. I went there for the Tchaikovsky competition, and stayed on to study. It was great to be in such a fantastic cultural centre. Relating his own story bores Kolesnikov, and he's always breaking off to muse about something more interesting. You know, Russia has a very young culture, and has not developed a great power of abstract thinking. That's why we have so few philosophers. That's why I became very interested in Western culture. And is that why he came to London last year? "Exactly," he says. I wanted to find a more pure style of playing, particularly for older music. In Russia we approach everything from a romantic point of view, which is not enough. Ironically the move has made him realise just how much he loves his own language. It's strange, I'm now reading all the great Russian books I never read before! But I'm really interested in English too. He's now shuttling back and forth between teachers in London and Brussels. Despite winning the world's richest competition, Kolesnikov still feels he has a long way to go. Music is the only totally abstract art, with no connection to the world, so there's a danger of going to extremes, being all emotion or all intellect. I'm looking for a way to find the perfect balance. Pavel Kolesnikov's debut recording Live at Honens 2012 is released on the Honens label. His debut Wigmore Hall recital is on January 12.