Pianissimo 2026 Summer Piano Festival

GES-2 House of Culture, in partnership with the Pianissimo festival, presents a programme of summer piano concerts, continuing an international cultural dialogue that has become traditional in recent years.

Programme 

The Festival introduces the young generation of musicians to a broad audience in venues that are unhabitual for classical music. It seeks synergy between various art forms, selecting venues where music meets painting, architecture, or natural landscapes. In past years concerts have been held in the Italian Hall of the New Hermitage (Saint Petersburg), GES-2 House of Culture (Moscow), and the Strelka Warehouses (Nizhny Novgorod) as well as the Valery Gergiev Concert Hall in Repino on the Gulf of Finland, the ballroom of the Kulm Hotel in Saint Moritz (Switzerland), and the Copacabana Palace Theatre in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

Photo: Gleb Leonov

The 2026 summer programme will feature performances by outstanding pianists of the new generation from Italy, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey. The Playhouse at GES-2 House of Culture will host performances by Matteo Buonanoce, João Neto Vieira, Moyun Yoon, Can Saraç, Mikhail Pirozhenko, Yegor Kadnikov, Vladimir Petrov, and Daniil Kharitonov.

Programme

Mikhail Pirozhenko (Russia)

Tickets

When: 14 Jul, 20:00–21:30

Mikhail Pirozhenko (b. 2010) is a student of piano in the class of Alexander Sandler at the Music Secondary School attached to the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire. He was a prize winner at the Sixth Vladimir Krainev International Piano Competition (Moscow) and won the Grand Prix at the Seventh Constellation Competition for Young Musicians held in the Sirius Federal Region near Sochi. He is a scholarship holder of the Maestro Temirkanov Foundation for Cultural Initiatives and the New Names Foundation.

Programme

Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)
Sonata in E flat major, K. 474
Sonata in E major, K. 46

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Ballade no. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Chant élégiaque, Op. 72, no. 14

Alexander Scriabin (1871–1915)
Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 38

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
Prelude in G major, Op. 32, no. 5
Étude-tableau in D major, Op. 39, no. 9

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) — Franz Liszt (1811–1886) — Vladimir Horowitz (1903–1989)
Danse macabre

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Sonata no. 6 in A major, Op. 82

Matteo Buonanoce (Italy)

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When: 15 Jul, 20:00–21:30

Matteo Buonanoce (b. 2005) graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin and is currently continuing his piano studies at the Accademia Perosi (Biella, Italy). He won the Grand Prix at the International Competition for Young Musicians in Atlanta (USA), the Jury Prize at the Sixteenth International Piano Competition in New Orleans (USA), and First Prize at the Claude Debussy Competition (Paris). Matteo Buonanoce tours regularly in Italy, France, Serbia, and South Korea. He has taken part in masterclasses with Pavel Gililov, Ewa Pobłocka, and Michel Béroff.

Programme

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Sonata in E minor, Hob. XVI/34

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Sonata no. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Piano Suite, L. 95

Sergei Lyapunov (1859–1924)
Transcendental Étude “Rondes de fantômes”, Op. 11, no. 2

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Transcendental Étude “Feux follets”, S. 139/5

Alexander Scriabin (1871–1915)
Sonata-Fantasy no. 2 in G-sharp minor, Op. 19

Yegor Kadnikov (Russia)

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When: 21 Jul, 20:00–21:30

Yegor Kadnikov (b. 2009) is a piano student in the class of Denis Trunov at the Siberian branch of the Central Music School. He won the Youth Section of the Ninth International Vera Lautard-Shevchenko Memorial Piano Competition (Yekaterinburg, 2025), also taking first prize at the Second National Meri Lebenson Piano Competition (Novosibirsk, 2025), and second prize at the Anatoly Lyadov International Competition for Young Pianists (Saint Petersburg, 2025). He is a scholarship holder of the New Names Foundation.

Programme

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) — Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Chaconne in D minor

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Sonata no. 3 in C major, Op. 2

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Sonata no. 3 in A minor, Op. 28

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
Moments musicaux, Op. 16

João Neto Vieira (Portugal)

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When: 22 Jul, 20:00–21:30

João Neto Vieira (b. 2006) studied piano at the Music School in Póvoa de Varzim (Portugal). He is currently a student in the class of Pedro Burmester at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo in Porto. He was a prize winner at the Prémio Jovens Músicos of Portuguese Radio and Television (2025), the Concurso Internacional de Piano do Alto Minho l (2025), the Margarida Magalhães Sousa Competition (2023), and other professional contests. He tours regularly in Portugal, France, and Italy.

Programme

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
English Suite no. 2 in A minor, BWV 807

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Fantasiestücke, Op. 12

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Sonata no. 7 in B flat major, Op. 83

Vladimir Petrov (Russia)

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When: 28 Jul, 20:00–21:30

Vladimir Petrov (b. 1997) studied piano in the class of Valery Pyasetsky at Russia’s Central Music School and in the class of Eliso Virsaladze at the Moscow Conservatory. He continued his studies with Grigory Gruzman at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar and with Horacio Gutiérrez at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He was a prize winner at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition (Italy), the Nashville International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition (USA), and the Neapolitan Masters online competition (Italy). He has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. A new album of performances by Vladimir Petrov will be released by Delos Productions in 2026.

Programme

Franz Schubert (1797—1828)—Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Der Müller und der Bach (“The Miller and the Brook”)

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Transcendental Étude no. 12 in B flat minor (“Chasse-neige”), S. 139
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 12 in C sharp minor, S. 244/12

Alexander Scriabin (1871–1915)
Étude in C-sharp minor, Op. 2, no. 1

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Dumka, Op. 59

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Sonata no. 3 in C minor, Op. 58

Can Saraç (Turkey)

Tickets

When: 29 Jul, 20:00–21:30

Can Saraç (b. 2007) graduated from the State Conservatory of Istanbul University in 2023. In June 2021, he won a place at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, where he was taught piano by Professor Michael Schäfer. Since 2018, he has taken part in competitions around the world, winning numerous prizes. He has performed at Carnegie Hall (New York), the Liederhalle Cultural Centre (Stuttgart), the State Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg), the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall (Istanbul), the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts, and other prestigious venues in various countries. In 2023, he took part in the Van Cliburn Youth Competition and Festival (Texas). He is a winner of the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize, awarded by the Eppan Piano Academy (Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy).

Programme

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) — Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Chaconne in D minor

Muzio Clementi (1752–1832)
Piano Sonata no. 5 in F-sharp minor, Op. 25

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Sonata no. 30 in E major, Op. 109

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
Sonata no. 2 in B flat major, Op. 36

Moyoung Yun (South Korea)

Tickets

When: 4 Aug, 20:00–21:30

Moyoung Yun (b. 1998) graduated from the Korea National University of Arts. He has won prizes at several national and international piano competitions, including the Nanpa Music Competition in Suwon (Korea), the Swiss International Music Competition in Lugano (online), the Manhattan School of Music Competition (online), and other prestigious events. He has toured in Korea and Switzerland.

Programme

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Kreisleriana, Op. 16

Alexander Scriabin (1871–1915)
Fantasy in B minor, Op. 28

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 847

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Sonata no. 32 in C minor, Op. 111

Daniil Kharitonov (Russia)

Tickets

When: 5 Aug, 20:00–21:30

Daniil Kharitonov (b. 1998) studied piano with Valery Pyasetsky at the Central Music School affiliated with the Moscow Conservatory and at the Royal College of Music in London with Dmitri Alexeev. He was awarded a scholarship by the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation and has won a number of international competitions, including the Nutcracker International Television Contest for Young Musicians in 2010. He was also among prize winners at the Fifteenth International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015. Daniil Kharitonov tours regularly in Europe and the United States.

Programme

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Consolations, S.172
Grandes études de Paganini, S.141

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840—1893)—Pavel Pabst (1854–1897)
Concert Paraphrase on Themes from the Ballet Sleeping Beauty

Aram Khachaturian (1903—1978)—Emin Khachaturian (1930–2000)
Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from the ballet Spartacus

Aram Khachaturian (1903—1978)—Daniil Kharitonov (b. 1998)
Lezginka from the ballet Gayane

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906—1975)—Levon Atovmyan (1901—1973)—Daniil Kharitonov (b. 1998)
Adagio from the ballet The Bright Stream

Alexander Borodin (1833—1887)—Felix Blumenfeld (1863—1931)—Daniil Kharitonov (b. 1998)
“Polovtsian Dances” from the opera Prince Igor