This September 18-20, celebrated pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy will travel from London to bring their groundbreaking, site‑specific musical vision to Ballroom Marfa for a weekend of performances unlike anything seen or heard before in Far West Texas.
Fresh from sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall and immersive, place‑inspired performances at the Guggenheim Museums in Bilbao and Venice, Pavel and Samson arrive not to perform in Marfa, but with it. Their invitation? To listen deeply to the land, the wind, and the light echoing across this high desert terrain.
Over the course of three days and five performances, their residency will unfold across a series of public and secret spaces almost forgotten. Each performance is conceived in dialogue with its setting, creating a kind of living score shaped by silence, architecture, texture, and time.
The music of Beethoven, Ustvolskaya, and Messiaen is chosen not as repertoire, but as resonance. Each work becomes a portal, a sonic aperture through which landscape and listener meet. This is not a concert series. It is a sonic pilgrimage: a constellation of fleeting encounters that blur the boundaries between classical form and radical place‑making.
With roots in the world’s most revered concert halls and a commitment to reimagining how and where we listen, Pavel and Samson have shaped a Marfa weekend that expands what music can do.
Passes
CLASSICAL PASS ($100)
Access to the weekend’s core events:
~ Stardust Opening
~ Conversation with Lawrence Weschler
~ Ustvolskaya, Beethoven & The Goldberg Variations
~ Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen
SONIC PASS ($500)
All Classical Pass benefits plus:
~ 10,000 Horses Sonic Experience
~ Priority seating at all events
The Rite of Spring at STONE CIRCLE is free and open to all.
Schedule
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
Stardust Opening | 7:15-9:35 PM
STARDUST MOTEL | 30.30491° N, 104.04616° W
A concert at the edge of the desert: glamorous, light, and just slightly surreal. As the sun sets and the music deepens, the evening opens the door to everything that follows.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
10,000 Horses Sonic Experience | 11:30 AM-12 PM
STONE CIRCLE | 30.33219° N, 103.99252° W
The sound of two pianos floats across an open landscape carried by wind-like voices from far away. You’ll find yourself between them, listening for something you didn’t know was there. A catered lunch will follow the performance. Sonic Pass holders only.
Ustvolskaya, Beethoven & The Goldberg Variations | 8-10:30 PM
BULLROOM | 30.32058° N, 103.99782° W
The evening begins with Ustvolskaya and Beethoven, followed by a champagne intermission, and concludes with the Goldberg Variations.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
Conversation with Lawrence Weschler | 11-11:45 AM
BULLROOM | 30.32058° N, 103.99782° W
Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen | 12-1 PM
BULLROOM | 30.32058° N, 103.99782° W
A cosmic explosion of sound and color, Messiaen’s music feels like staring into light. This is a prayer built from joy , rhythm, and fire.
The Rite of Spring | 9:30-10:10 PM
STONE CIRCLE | 30.33219° N, 103.99252° W
Under the stars, on sacred ground, Stravinsky’s music returns to its primal source. You’re invited to witness something wild and elemental. This performance is free and open to all.
Artist Bios
Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy are among the most captivating and original musicians of their generation, celebrated for their visionary approach to bridging tradition and modernity. As soloists and as a duo, they present thought-provoking programmes in the world’s most prestigious concert halls—Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Suntory Hall—while also creating powerful musical dialogues in unconventional spaces such as the Gagosian Galleries, the Guggenheim Museums in Bilbao and Venice, Antwerp’s Museum of fashion, and London’s Bold Tendencies.
Their duo debut at Carnegie Hall was named one of The New York Times’ “Best of 2024.” That same year, their debut recording of works by Schubert and Desyatnikov on Harmonia Mundi was featured in Le Monde’s “Nos albums préférés de 2024” and won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d’Or, while also being named BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Choice.
As soloists, both artists have earned international recognition. Pavel Kolesnikov, known for his poetic and deeply immersive artistry, has recorded extensively for Hyperion and received the Diapason d’Or de l’année for his Chopin Mazurkas. In recent seasons, he has been artist‑in‑residence at The Armory in New York and Wigmore Hall, as well as a featured artist at the Aldeburgh Festival. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and Philharmonia Orchestra—collaborating with conductors Susanna Mälkki, Manfred Honeck, Sir Mark Elder, Gianandrea Noseda, Alexandre Bloch, and Vasily Petrenko.
Samson Tsoy, praised for his inexhaustible imagination and exceptional sensitivity, released his debut solo recording, Inmost Heart, on Linn Records in February 2025. The album received a five-star review and was selected as BBC Music Magazine’s Instrmental Choice. He recently made his debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Münchener Kammerorchester, and performed both of Brahms’ piano concertos in a single evening with the Philharmonia Orchestra. He has worked with conductors Maxim Emelyanychev, Gergely Madaras, Enrico Onofri, Valery Gergiev, and Diego Masson. In 2023, he became the first classical musician to perform at the opening of the Munich Security Conference.
Kolesnikov and Tsoy frequently extend their performance work beyond conventional concert settings. As musical curators, they are known for their site-specific projects, realised both in iconic venues and unique, off-the-beaten-track locations. In Spring 2025, they will create a musical homage to David Hockney during the opening weekend of his largest retrospective to date at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Avid multidisciplinary collaborators, they have worked closely in recent years with choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, sculptor Richard Serra, and fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto. In 2019, Kolesnikov and Tsoy co-founded the Ragged Music Festival in London—an initiative that reimagines the relationship between music, architecture, and the visual arts. The festival was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award in 2021. In 2023, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam granted Pavel and Samson carte blanche to curate an international edition, subsequently re-inviting the festival in March 2026.
Special Thanks
Pavel and Samson are proud partners and players of Yamaha Pianos.
Ballroom Marfa extends special thanks for artist support provided by Fairfax Dorn, Molly Kemp, Virginia Lebermann, Allison Sarofim and Patrick Seabase, Neil Subin, and Orveda Skincare.
Additional support is provided by Rachel Arnold, Jill Brienza, Alexandre & Lori Chemla, Stacey Cohen, CJ Follini & Andrea Pemberton, Ady Fong, Joa Freidrich, Deborah Green & Clayton Ainsworth, Alexander Hankin, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Lena Kaplan & The Kaplan Foundation, Jenny Laird, Donna Lennard, Kathleen Irvin Loughlin, Christine Mattson, Jonathan Mergele, Ross Moody, David Netto, Louise O’Connor, Catherine Orentreich, Polina Proshkina & Yan Assoun, Whitney Robinson, Tiina Rosen, Arden Wohl & Jonah Freeman, Elizabeth Wohlforth, Candace Worth, and Ku-Ling Yurman.